Mindfulness, self-regulation, and personality

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Mindfulness, or awareness without judgment, has shown immense promise for applications in the treatment of both psychological and physical conditions thought to be caused or exacerbated by stress. However, research into mindfulness has been limited by a lack of construct specificity, indicating the need for an operationalized definition of mindfulness for use in a Western clinical context. Mindfulness and self-regulation, a term often employed in psychological descriptions of mindfulness, are explored as possible components for an operationalized definition of mindfulness. Both of these constructs, considered to be learnable behaviors in the current discussion, are compared with the Big Five personality traits and correlations are derived. Results of the current study indicate mindfulness and self-regulation to be separate but related processes that may manifest in relation to several of the Big Five personality traits but cannot be reduced to personality. These findings provide a foundation for future research into the construct of mindfulness as appearing in a psychological context.