The protective role of dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting for adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing symptoms

Abstract

ABSTRACT The main objective of this doctoral thesis is to explore the beneficial role of dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting in promoting adolescent mental health. The thesis focuses on dispositional mindfulness concerning stressful situations for adolescents, such as ostracism and COVID-19. The thesis also addresses the role of dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting in protecting against general internalizing and externalizing psychological symptoms in adolescents. The thesis is divided into six chapters. Chapter I provides an overview of mental health during adolescence. First, the most relevant epidemiological data on mental health in adolescence are described, including the consequences of adolescents’ psychological symptoms and the most relevant theoretical models. Second, the consequences of ostracism and COVID-19 for adolescent mental health are presented, and the chapter considers how dispositional mindfulness could be a protective factor in these situations. Third, a review of dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting and their relationship with adolescent mental health is presented. Fourth, the chapter presents the main conclusions of this review and the questions that give rise to the paper’s objectives and hypotheses. The following chapters (Chapters II, III, IV, and V) correspond to the four empirical studies of which the doctoral thesis is composed. They are presented through the following scientific articles: o Royuela-Colomer, E., Orue, I., Ren, D., & Fernández-González, L. (2022). The association between dispositional mindfulness and need threat following ostracism in Spanish adolescents: The moderating role of age. Psicothema, 34(1), 117–125. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2021.147 o Royuela-Colomer, E., Orue, I., Fernández-González, L., & Calvete, E. (2022). The association between exposure to COVID-19, internalizing symptoms, and dispositional mindfulness in adolescents: A longitudinal pre- and during-pandemic study, 1–13. Child Psychiatry & Human Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01349-0 o Royuela-Colomer, E., Fernández-González, L. & Orue, I. (2021). Longitudinal associations between internalizing symptoms, dispositional mindfulness, rumination and impulsivity in adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(10), 2067–2078. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01476-2 o Royuela-Colomer, E., Orue, I., Visu-Petra, L., & Fernández-González, L. (under review). The protective role of mindful parenting for externalizing problems in adolescents. The first, second and third studies have been published in high-impact scientific journals (Q1 and Q2 in Journal Citation Reports [JCR]), while the fourth study is currently under review in a journals included in the JCR. The first study found an association between dispositional mindfulness and need threat following ostracism, with this association being significant only in older adolescents. The second study demonstrated that, during the first two waves of the pandemic, increased contact with COVID-19 predicted an increase in adolescents’ internalizing symptoms, and this relationship was mediated by a decrease in levels of dispositional mindfulness. The third study identified several longitudinal relationships between dispositional mindfulness, internalizing symptoms (anxiety, stress, and depression), impulsivity, and rumination. The two studies included in the fourth article showed a protective role of mindful parenting against externalizing symptoms in adolescents. The relationship between emotional symptoms and behavioral problems was only significant in those adolescents whose parents had a low level of being in the moment with the child facet of mindful parenting. In addition, antisocial behavior presented temporal stability only in those adolescents whose parents had low levels of the mindful parenting facet of mindful discipline. The main conclusion of this thesis is that both dispositional mindfulness and mindful parenting have a protective role against internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescents. This thesis suggests that age is an essential factor to consider in situations of social exclusion, and factors such as impulsivity and COVID-19 contact negatively affect dispositional mindfulness. These findings have practical implications for developing and implementing mindfulness and mindful parenting-based mental health prevention and promotion programs during adolescence.