Dispositional mindfulness is cross-sectionally predicted by interactions between interparental conflict and parent-child relationships

Abstract

Theory emphasizes the importance of the family environment for the development of dispositional mindfulness, but past research has focused exclusively on parent-child attachment relationships as family-level predictors of mindfulness. Our goal was to examine unique and joint associations of both interparental conflict and parent-child relationship quality with dispositional mindfulness. Participants were 150 youth (14–21 yrs) who reported the warmth and support in their relationships with mothers and fathers separately, as well as their appraisals of the properties of their parents' conflict, how threatening that conflict is, and how responsible for it they feel, in addition to dispositional mindfulness. Results indicated consistent interactions between conflict properties and mother-child relationship quality in relation to dispositional mindfulness. Dispositional mindfulness was lowest for youth who reported low levels of frequent/intense interparental conflict and poor-quality relationships with mothers. In contrast, either self-blame/threat or poor-quality relationships with mothers predicted lower levels of dispositional mindfulness. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.