Does the association between mindful parenting and adolescents’ dispositional mindfulness depend on the levels of anxiety and depression symptomatology in mothers?

Abstract

The current study aims to investigate whether mindful parenting and adolescents' dispositional mindfulness differ as a function of maternal anxiety and depressive symptoms and to explore the moderating role of these symptoms on the relationship between mindful parenting and adolescents' dispositional mindfulness. A sample of 685 mother-adolescent dyads was collected in Portuguese public schools. Mothers completed self-reported measures of mindful parenting and symptoms of anxiety and depression, and adolescents (aged 10–18 years) completed a measure of dispositional mindfulness. Mothers with clinically significant symptomatology levels reported lower levels of mindful parenting than those with normal symptomatology. Almost all mindful parenting dimensions were significantly associated with adolescents' mindfulness, but only under lower or moderate levels of anxiety and depression symptomatology. These findings suggest that parental factors play a key role in adolescents' mindfulness skills and underline the detrimental effect of maternal psychopathology on mindful parenting and on its link with adolescents’ mindfulness.