Causal links between external contingencies of self-worth and mindfulness

Abstract

Outcome research confirming the salutary effects of mindfulness-based interventions has proliferated in the last fifteen years. In contrast, there has been very little research into intra-individual factors that may enhance or inhibit mindfulness. The present study examined a proposal by Brown, Ryan and Creswell (2007a) that external contingent self-worth may act as an inhibiting factor of mindfulness. Undergraduate participants performed two reading tasks, one under neutral conditions and one under the influence of an academic ego-threat. Momentary mindfulness levels were measured retrospectively following both reading tasks. It was expected that levels of academic competence contingent self-worth would predict changes in momentary mindfulness levels between the ego-threat and neutral condition, and in addition, that worry would mediate the relationship. The study findings supported both hypotheses. The theoretical implications of the study are discussed in relation to the salience of self-investment in present moment events as a controlling variable of levels of momentary mindfulness.