Informatics Publishing Limited

Satchit Prasun Mandal ¹, Yogesh Kumar Arya ¹, Rakesh Pandey ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, IN

Abstract

The link between mindfulness and better emotion regulation (ER) has been well documented, but the mechanism through whichitrmprovesERis still unclear. It is likely that the emotion regulatory effects of mindfulness might be occurring indirectly through other affective aspects (e.g., range & differentiation of emotional experiences). The said possibility was tested on a sample of 211 adults, using self-report measures of mindfulness, the use of ER strategies(reappraisal&suppression)andrangeanddifferentiationofemotionalexperience.Analysesrevealedthat mindfulness and its dimensions correlated negatively with the use of suppression and positively with reappraisal as well as range and differentiation of emotional experiences. The hypothesis that mindfulness influences ER indirectly through altering the range and differentiation of emotions is supported by the findings of structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that mindfulness was indirectly linked with enhanced use of reappraisal through improved emotional differentiation andreduced use of suppression through enhancement of both the range and differentiation of emotional experiences. Further, mindfulness was found to have a significant direct effect on suppression but not on reappraisal. These findings imply that mindfulness exerts its emotion regulatory effect indirectly by enhancing the range and differentiation of emotional experiences but it may also have some direct effect on some aspects of ER such as reduced emotional suppression.

Keywords

Mindfulness, Emotional Differentiation, Cognitive Reappraisal, Expressive Suppression, SEM.

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Satchit Prasun Mandal ¹, Yogesh Kumar Arya ², Rakesh Pandey ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, IN

Abstract

Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ: Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer & Toney, 2006) though is a widely used measure for assessing the trait mindfulness, its five factor structure has been questioned and a four factor model (without observe dimension) has been advocated in several studies. The validity of the initially proposed five factor and the alternative four factor models of the FFMQ was tested in the present study using the Hindi version of this measure (FFMQ-H) on a sample of 300 non-meditators (163 males & 137 females). Findings of the confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the original five factor of the FFMQ do not provide a good fit to the data even after allowing the five dimensions and some of the error terms to correlate. The test of the alternative four factor model (without the observe dimension) yielded a better fit compared to five factor model. The model was further revised by dropping three items (33, 4 & 10) having poor psychometric properties and/or poor loading which resulted in considerable improvement in the model fit. The final 28 item Hindi version of the FFMQ (without observe dimension) and its four factors demonstrated satisfactory reliability (alpha coefficient for the whole scale was .85 & for the four factors it ranged from .61 to .81). The findings suggest that the FFMQ-H can be used to reliably measure the trait mindfulness among Hindi speaking Indians and the trait mindfulness can be better summarized by four factors without the observe dimension that may be redundant for assessing it among non-meditators.

Keywords

Mindfulness, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Psychometric Properties.

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Ilika Guha Majumdar ¹, Tushar Singh ², Yogesh Kumar Arya ¹, Satchit Prasun Mandal ¹, Sushma Kumari ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, IN
2 Department of Psychology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, IN

Abstract

The present study examined the role of childhood parental emotional abuse and neglect in the formation and development of fear of intimacy in the context of romantic relationships and depressive symptoms among a sample of young adults. A total of 275 participants (120 males & 155 females) having the age range from 18 years to 25 years were administered Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory-Psychological Abuse Subscale, Multidimensional Neglectful Behaviour-Form A 20 (Adolescent & Adult Recall Version), Fear of Intimacy Scale and Beck Depression Inventory II. The results of the study showed a significant relationship of childhood parental emotional abuse and neglect with fear of intimacy and depressive symptoms. The results also suggested significant gender differences in fear of intimacy among young adults. Childhood parental emotional abuse and neglect were significantly predicted fear of intimacy and depressive symptoms. The results, thus, indicate that childhood parental emotional abuse and neglect play a critical role in the development of fear of intimacy in the context of romantic relationships and depressive symptoms among young adults. Therefore, it may be argued that maltreatment occurring during the childhood may have enduring adverse influences on adult psychological health.

Keywords

Childhood Parental Emotional Abuse, Parental Neglect, Fear of Intimacy, Depressive Symptoms.

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