The mediating role of openness to experience and curiosity in the relationship between mindfulness and meaning in life: evidence from four countries

Meaning in Life and Coping With Everyday Stressors

Meaning in life (MIL) has been proposed to improve coping and resilience. Yet MIL's association with coping has primarily been investigated in the context of extreme stressors and trauma, often using varied measures of MIL. Is MIL associated with varied coping strategies, coping self-efficacy, and distress in relation to commonly experienced, everyday challenges? Using diverse methodological designs, five studies (total N = 1,646) investigated the association between MIL and coping strategies/appraisals pertaining to varied challenging, stressful events. Across recalled (Studies 1 and 2), anticipated (Study 3), and experienced stressors (Studies 3-5), MIL was consistently associated with positive reinterpretation, proactive planning, coping self-efficacy, and stress. MIL was inconsistently related to threat/emotion-coping.

Linking University Students' Mindfulness to Positive Adjustment Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: a 6-month Cross-Lagged Panel Design

Objectives

In the face of a global pandemic, research on wellness-fostering resources is urgently needed, especially with longitudinal designs and diverse samples. According to the mindfulness-to-meaning theory and broaden-and-build theory, this study examined the reciprocal associations among a group of Chinese university students' trait mindfulness, positive and negative affect, and use of positive coping strategies, including positive reappraisal, planning, and seeking of emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Participants were 247 Hong Kong university students (M _age = 20.96, SD = 2.38; female = 86%) who completed survey measures of mindfulness, positive and negative affect, and positive coping strategies at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Data were analysed using a cross-lagged panel design, controlling for participants' age.

Results

The proposed reciprocal model exhibited an excellent fit with the data. There was a reciprocal association between trait mindfulness and positive affect over time. However, no significant reciprocal effect was found among mindfulness, negative affect, and positive coping strategies.

Conclusions

Theoretically, the current findings extended the two theories to a non-Western population during a critical time and suggested a long-term reciprocal association between positive affect and mindfulness. Our study provided important insight into university students' positive well-being during COVID-19 and demonstrated the wellness-fostering effect of mindfulness.