Abstract
This study, based on a transactional perspective of psychopathology, aimed to examine whether the mindful attention and awareness component of mindfulness moderates the bidirectional long-term predictive associations between dependent stressors, maladaptive schemas, and depressive symptoms in adolescents. It was hypothesized that mindful attention and awareness would buffer the predictive bidirectional associations between these variables. The sample was composed of 1190 high school students (48.7% girls) from the Basque Country (Spain), who participated in a two-wave longitudinal study spaced 2 years apart. The participants were all between 13 and 18 years old (M = 15.16, SD = 0.95). They completed a measure of dispositional mindfulness at wave 1, and measures of dependent stressors, schemas from the disconnection/rejection schema domain, and depressive symptoms at both waves. Results indicated that mindful attention and awareness reduced the predictive associations between disconnection/rejection schemas and depressive symptoms at follow-up (wave 2). In addition, mindfulness predicted lower scores on maladaptive schemas, dependent stressors, and depressive symptoms at follow-up and buffered the stability of schemas over time. However, these findings were statistically significant only for boys. The results suggest that mindfulness-based intervention can be used to reduce maladaptive schemas that are relevant for depressive symptoms in adolescents.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abela, J. R. Z., Aydin, C., & Auerbach, R. P. (2006a). Operationalizing the “vulnerability” and “stress” components of the hopelessness theory of depression: A multiway longitudinal study. Behavior Research and Therapy, 44(11), 1565–1583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2005.11.010.
Abela, J. R., Webb, C. A., Wagner, C., Ho, M. H. R., & Adams, P. (2006b). The role of self-criticism, dependency, and hassles in the course of depressive illness: a multiwave longitudinal study. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(3), 328–338. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205280911.
Abramson, L., Alloy, L., Hankin, B., Haeffel, G., MacCoon, D., & Gibb, B. (2002). Cognitive vulnerability-stress models of depression in a self-regulatory and psychobiological context. In I. Gotlib & C. Hammen (Eds.), Handbook of depression (pp. 268–294). New York: The Guilford Press.
Baer, R., Smith, G., Hopkins, J., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006). Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness. Assessment, 13(1), 27–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191105283504.
Beck, A. T. (1976). Cognitive therapy and the emotional disorders. New York: New American Library.
Beck, A. T. (1983). Cognitive therapy of depression: new perspectives. In P. J. Clayton & J. E. Barrett (Eds.), Treatment of depression: old controversies and new approaches (pp. 265–284). New York: Raven Press.
Bishop, S. R., Lau, M., Shapiro, S., Carlson, L., Anderson, N. D., Carmody, J., et al. (2004). Mindfulness: a proposed operational definition. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 11(3), 230–241. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy/bph077.
Black, D. S., Sussman, S., Johnson, C. A., & Milam, J. (2012). Psychometric assessment of the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS) among Chinese adolescents. Assessment, 19(1), 42–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191111415365.
Bowlin, S. L., & Baer, R. A. (2012). Relationships between mindfulness, self-control, and psychological functioning. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 411–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.10.050.
Brem, M. J., Shorey, R. C., Anderson, S., & Stuart, G. L. (2017). Dispositional mindfulness, shame, and compulsive sexual behaviors among men in residential treatment for substance use disorders. Mindfulness, 8(6), 1552–1558. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0723-0.
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(4), 822–848. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822.
Brown, K. W., West, A. M., Loverich, T. M., & Biegel, G. M. (2011). Assessing adolescent mindfulness: validation of an adapted Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in adolescent normative and psychiatric populations. Psychological Assessment, 23(4), 1023–1033. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021338.
Calvete, E. (2014). Emotional abuse as a predictor of early maladaptive schemas in adolescents: contributions to the development of depressive and social anxiety symptoms. Child Abuse and Neglect, 38(4), 735–746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.10.014.
Calvete, E., & Cardeñoso, O. (1999). Beliefs and depressive symptoms: preliminary findings in the development of a brief irrational beliefs scale. Anales de Psicología, 15(2), 179–190.
Calvete, E., Orue, I., & González-Díez, Z. (2013a). An examination of the structure and stability of early maladaptive schemas by means of the Young Schema Questionnaire-3. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 29(4), 283–290. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000158.
Calvete, E., Orue, I., & Hankin, B. L. (2013b). Transactional relationships among cognitive vulnerabilities, stressors, and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41(3), 399–410. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9691-y.
Calvete, E., Sampedro, A., & Orue, I. (2014). Propiedades psicométricas de la versión española de la “Escala de Atención y Conciencia Plena para Adolescentes” (Mindful Attention Awareness Scale-Adolescents) (MAAS-A). Psicología Conductual, 22(2), 277–291.
Calvete, E., Orue, I., & Hankin, B. L. (2015). A longitudinal test of the vulnerability-stress model with early maladaptive schemas for depressive and social anxiety symptoms in adolescents. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 37(1), 85–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-014-9438-x.
Calvete, E., Fernández-González, L., González-Cabrera, J. M., & Gámez-Guadix, M. (2017a). Continued bullying victimization in adolescents: maladaptive schemas as a mediational mechanism. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 47(3), 650–660. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-017-0677-5.
Calvete, E., Orue, I., & Sampedro, A. (2017b). Does the acting with awareness trait of mindfulness buffer the predictive association between stressors and psychological symptoms in adolescents? Personality and Individual Differences, 105, 158–163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.09.055.
Ciesla, J. A., Reilly, L. C., Dickson, K. S., Emanuel, A. S., & Updegraff, J. A. (2012). Dispositional mindfulness moderates the effects of stress among adolescents: rumination as a mediator. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 41(6), 760–770. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2012.698724.
Cole, D. A., Ciesla, J. A., Dallaire, D. A., Jacquez, F. M., Pineda, A. Q., LaGrange, B., et al. (2008). Emergence of attributional style and its relation to depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117(1), 16–31. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843x.117.1.16.
Crawford, J. R., & Henry, J. D. (2003). The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS): normative data and latent structure in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 42(2), 111–131. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466503321903544.
De Bruin, E. I., Zijlstra, B. J., & Bögels, S. M. (2014). The meaning of mindfulness in children and adolescents: further validation of the cChild and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) in two independent samples from the Netherlands. Mindfulness, 5(4), 422–430. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0196-8.
Dixon, H. C., & Overall, N. C. (2016). Dispositional mindfulness attenuates the link between daily stress and depressed mood. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 35(3), 255–268. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2016.35.3.255.
Dohrenwend, B. P. (2006). Inventorying stressful life events as risk factors for psychopathology: toward resolution of the problem of intracategory variability. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 477–495. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.477.
Eberhart, N. K., Auerbach, R. P., Bigda-Peyton, J., & Abela, J. R. Z. (2011). Maladaptive schemas and depression: tests of stress generation and diathesis-stress models. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 30(1), 75–104. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2011.30.1.75.
Halvorsen, M., Wang, C. A., Eisemann, M., & Waterloo, E. K. (2010). Dysfunctional attitudes and early maladaptive schemas as predictors of depression: a 9 year follow-up study. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34(4), 368–379. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9259-5.
Hammen, C. (2005). Stress and depression. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1(1), 293–319. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.1.102803.143938.
Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2001). Development of gender differences in depression: an elaborated cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory. Psychological Bulletin, 127(6), 773–796. https://doi.org/10.1037//0033-2909.127.6.773.
Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2002). Measuring cognitive vulnerability to depression in adolescence: reliability, validity, and gender differences. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31(4), 491–504. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15374424JCCP3104_8.
Hankin, B. L., Abramson, L. Y., Moffitt, T. E., Silva, P. A., McGee, R., & Angell, K. E. (1998). Development of depression from preadolescence to young adulthood: emerging gender differences in a 10-year longitudinal study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107(1), 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-843x.107.1.128.
Hankin, B. L., Mermelstein, R., & Roesch, L. (2007). Sex differences in adolescent depression: stress exposure and reactivity models. Child Development, 78(1), 279–295. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.00997.x.
Hankin, B. L., Stone, L., & Wright, P. A. (2010). Corumination, interpersonal stress generation, and internalizing symptoms: accumulating effects and transactional influences in a multiwave study of adolescents. Development and Psychopathology, 22(1), 217–235. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954579409990368.
Hawley, L. L., Zuroff, D. C., Brozina, K., Moon-Ho, R. H., & Dobson, K. S. (2014). Self-critical perfectionism and stress reactivity following cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 7(3), 287–303. https://doi.org/10.1521/ijct.2014.7.3.287.
Heller, K. (2012). Depression in teens and children. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/lib/depression-in-teens-and-children/. Accessed 09 September 2017.
Jose, P.E. (2013). ModGraph-I: a programme to compute cell means for the graphical display of moderational analyses: the internet version, Version 3.0. Wellington, New Zealand. Retrieved November 2017 from https://psychology.victoria.ac.nz/modgraph/
Kabat-Zinn, J. (2003). Mindfulness-based interventions in context: past, present and future. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 144–156. https://doi.org/10.1093/clipsy/bpg016.
Kopala-Sibley, D. C., Zuroff, D. C., Hankin, B. L., & Abela, J. R. (2015). The development of self-criticism and dependency in early adolescence and their role in the development of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 41(8), 1094–1109. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167215590985.
Little, T. D. (2013). Longitudinal structural equation modeling. New York: Guilford Press.
Little, T. D., Bovaird, J. A., & Widaman, K. F. (2006). On the merits of orthogonalizing powered and product terms: implications for modeling interactions among latent variables. Structural Equation Modeling, 13(4), 497–519. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328007sem1304_1.
Liu, R. T., & Alloy, L. B. (2010). Stress generation in depression: a systematic review of the empirical literature and recommendations for future study. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(5), 582–593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.04.010.
Lumley, M. N., & Harkness, K. L. (2007). Specificity in the relations among childhood adversity, early maladaptive schemas, and symptom profiles in adolescent depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31(5), 639–657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-006-9100-3.
Martin, K. P., Blair, S. M., Clark, G. I., Rock, A. J., & Hunter, K. R. (2018). Trait mindfulness moderates the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and depressive symptoms. Mindfulness, 9(1), 140–150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0753-7.
Masten, A. S., Roisman, G. I., Long, J. D., Burt, K. B., Obradović, J., Riley, J. R., et al. (2005). Developmental cascades: linking academic achievement and externalizing and internalizing symptoms over 20 years. Developmental Psychology, 41(5), 733–746. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.41.5.733.
Mezulis, A. H., Funasaki, K. S., Charbonneau, A. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2010). Gender differences in the cognitive vulnerability-stress model of depression in the transition to adolescence. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 34(6), 501–513. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-009-9281-7.
Orue, I., Calvete, E., & Padilla, P. (2014). Brooding rumination as a mediator in the relation between early maladaptive schemas and symptoms of depression and social anxiety in adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 37(8), 1281–1291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.09.004.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385–401. https://doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306.
Royuela-Colomer, E., & Calvete, E. (2016). Mindfulness facets and depression in adolescents: rumination as a mediator. Mindfulness, 7(5), 1092–1102. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0547-3.
Shorey, R. C., Brasfield, H., Anderson, S., & Stuart, G. L. (2015). The relation between trait mindfulness and early maladaptive schemas in men seeking substance use treatment. Mindfulness, 6(2), 348–355. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-013-0268-9.
Van Vreeswijk, M., Broersen, J., & Schurink, G. (2014). Mindfulness and schema therapy: a practical guide. New Jersey: Wiley Blackwell.
Young, J. E. (2006). Young Schema Questionnaire-3. New York: Cognitive Therapy Center.
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: a practitioner’s guide. New York: Guilford Press.
Funding
This research was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spanish Government, Ref. PSI2015-68426-R) and two grants from the Basque Country (Ref. IT982-16 and Ref. PI_2016_1_0023).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
EC: designed the study, conducted the data analyses, and wrote the paper. AM: collaborated with the literature review and prepared tables. IO: collaborated with the design and writing of the study. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Calvete, E., Morea, A. & Orue, I. The Role of Dispositional Mindfulness in the Longitudinal Associations Between Stressors, Maladaptive Schemas, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents. Mindfulness 10, 547–558 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-1000-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-1000-6