Enhancement Motives Mediate the Positive Association Between Mind/Body Awareness and College Student Drinking

The Relationship between Mindfulness and Readiness to Change in Alcohol Drinkers

Mindfulness is a multi-faceted construct that involves paying attention to thoughts and emotions without automatically reacting and being critical of them. Recent research has suggested that mindfulness might play an important role in reducing problematic alcohol use. Further, Readiness to Change (RTC) is related to motivation to change drinking behaviours. The RTC scale identifies motivation to change drinking behaviours including Precontemplation, Contemplation, and Action stages. The current study investigated, for the first time, the relationship between mindfulness (and its facets) and RTC in relation to drinking behaviours. Undergraduate students from Western Sydney University (N = 279) were screened for drinking levels using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) and then completed the Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RCT) and the Five Facets Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), which includes the following facets: Acting with Awareness, Non-Judging of Inner Experience, Non-Reactivity to Inner Experience, Describing, and Observing. Results show that overall, mindfulness and its facets negatively correlated with RTC. Multiple regression analysis further showed that Awareness and Non-Judgement facets negatively predicted RTC. These findings provide insight into how the facets of mindfulness interact with the drinking motives of individuals and their intentions to change drinking behaviours. Based on these findings, we recommend the incorporation of mindfulness techniques in interventions targeting problematic drinking.

Descriptive peer drinking norms and binge drinking: Enhancement motives as a mediator and alcohol resistance self-efficacy as a moderator

The association between descriptive norms regarding peer drinking and college students’ binge drinking has been established; however, the mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying this relationship among first-and second-year college students remain minimally explored. Drawing on social norms theory, motivational model of alcohol use, and the theory of normative social behavior, the current study investigated whether enhancement drinking motives mediated the relationship between descriptive norms regarding peer drinking and college students’ binge drinking, and whether this relationship was moderated by alcohol resistance self-efficacy. Five hundred and nineteen first-and second-year college students (M_age = 19.19 years, SD = 0.98) who were from four universities and had at least one time of heavy episodic drinking during the last year completed self-report questionnaires. After controlling for sex, age, and university variable, stronger descriptive norms regarding peer drinking were positively associated with a greater frequency of binge drinking. Enhancement drinking motives partially mediated the effects of descriptive peer drinking norms on binge drinking. Furthermore, alcohol resistance self-efficacy moderated the direct effects of descriptive peer drinking norms on binge drinking. Compared with college students who reported high alcohol resistance self-efficacy, the direct effects of descriptive peer drinking norms on binge drinking were stronger among students with low alcohol resistance self-efficacy. These findings point to the potential value of alcohol intervention approaches including efforts to help first-and second-year college students change enhancement drinking motives and increase their ability of resisting drinks in the context of pervasive peer drinking.

Mindfulness facets, self-compassion, and drinking to cope: How do associations differ by gender in undergraduates with harmful alcohol consumption?

Objective: Undergraduate students show high rates of harmful alcohol consumption, and coping-motivated use has been consistently shown to be the most problematic. The present study examines associations between mindfulness facets, self-compassion, and coping-motivated use, and how these associations differ by gender. Participants and Methods: Undergraduate students reporting harmful alcohol consumption (N = 146; 55.5% women) completed self-report measures assessing their dispositional mindfulness facets, self-compassion, and drinking motives. Results: Regression analyses revealed that for both genders, mindfulness facets and self-compassion were negatively associated with drinking to cope with depression, but not anxiety. Non-judging was uniquely negatively associated with drinking to cope with depression in women, but in men, non-reactivity was the sole unique association. Conclusions: Future research should investigate whether mindfulness and self-compassion training for undergraduates with harmful alcohol consumption is more effective if they target students who drink to cope with depression and emphasize different skills depending on the student's gender.

Exploring the Optimal Factor Structure of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire: Associations Between Mindfulness Facets and Dimensions of Psychopathology

Recent studies of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) and its condensed version (FFMQ-SF) fail to replicate the initially proposed five-factor structure in clinical samples. Failure to adequately understand the dimensionality of common mindfulness measures within clinical samples, therefore, represents an important gap in the current literature. The increasing popularity of mindfulness-based interventions warrants further investigation of differential associations between facets of mindfulness and different forms of psychopathology. We examined (a) the underlying structure of the FFMQ and FFMQ-SF, and (b) associations between FFMQ and FFMQ-SF facets and dimensions of psychopathology (i.e., internalizing and substance use disorders) in two large clinical samples (N = 2,779). Results from bass-ackwards analyses suggested similarly defensible five- and six-factor model solutions in terms of fit. The five-factor model was optimal when factoring in parsimony. Exploratory structural equation modeling revealed that all FFMQ facets with the exception of observe were negatively associated with the internalizing factor. Associations with substance use disorders were more complex. In both samples, five-factor FFMQ and FFMQ-SF models were determined to best represent these data. Whereas deficits in all FFMQ facets with the exception of observe correspond with lower internalizing psychopathology, a more nuanced association was observed with substance use disorders.

The relationship between sex-related alcohol expectancies and hazardous drinking among persons with HIV disease

Hazardous drinking is a clinically significant problem among persons with HIV (PWH) disease, and is associated with a number of poor outcomes. Hazardous drinking among PWH is associated with risky substance use and sexual behavior, but little work has examined factors that may be associated with greater hazardous drinking and subsequent risky sexual behaviors among PWH. Research among the general population suggests that sex-related alcohol expectancies, defined as drinking to enhance sexual experience, increase sexual risk-taking, and disinhibition of sexual behavior, are associated with greater hazardous alcohol use and risky sexual behavior, but these relations have not been explored among PWH. Therefore, the current study examined the associations of sex-related alcohol expectancies with hazardous alcohol consumption, dependence, and problems among 146 PWH (M_age = 50.99, SD = 9.41) \ enrolled in a clinical trial examining a personalized feedback intervention to reduce hazardous drinking in primary HIV care. Results showed that only sexual disinhibition-related alcohol expectancies were significantly associated with the criterion variables, such that greater drinking alcohol for sexual disinhibition was associated with greater hazardous drinking behaviors. These results sit on the backdrop of a larger literature documenting the links between disinhibition and hazardous alcohol use and provide explanatory specificity to PWH who are hazardous drinkers.

Like clouds in a windy sky: Mindfulness training reduces negative affect reactivity in daily life in a randomized controlled trial

While prior research has found mindfulness to be linked with emotional responses to events, less is known about this effect in a non-clinical sample. Even less is known regarding the mechanisms of the underlying processes: It is unclear whether participants who exhibit increased acceptance show decreased emotional reactivity (i.e., lower affective responses towards events overall) or a speedier emotional recovery (i.e., subsequent decrease in negative affect) due to adopting an accepting stance. To address these questions, we re-analysed two Ambulatory Assessment data sets. The first (N_Study1 = 125) was a 6-week randomized controlled trial (including a 40-day ambulatory assessment); the second (N_Study2 = 175) was a 1-week ambulatory assessment study. We found state mindfulness to be more strongly associated with emotional reactivity than with recovery, and that only emotional reactivity was significantly dampened by mindfulness training. Regarding the different facets of mindfulness, we found that the strongest predictor of both emotional reactivity and recovery was non-judgemental acceptance. Finally, we found that being aware of one's own thoughts and behaviour could be beneficial or detrimental for emotional recovery, depending on whether participants accepted their thoughts and emotions. Together, these findings provide evidence for predictions derived from the monitoring and acceptance theory.

Training emotion regulation processes in alcohol-abstinent individuals: A pilot study

The study aimed to assess whether abstinent individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUD) would benefit from enhanced emotional regulation (ER) strategies using the affect regulation training (ART) program based on weekly sessions comprising psycho-education, muscle and respiratory relaxation, awareness, acceptance and tolerance, compassionate personal support, emotion analysis and modification. Seventy-two participants with AUD benefited from ART and were compared on their ER ability, mindfulness, and their experience of abstinence to 40 participants not receiving the program, before it, at the end, and 6 months after. Improvements in ER were observed, particularly in positive centration, action centration or self-blame and in mindfulness abilities after the program and six months later. In addition, by comparing participants who received the program with a short (<18 months) or long (>18 months) abstinence duration, the results showed a greater decrease in the use of non-adaptive strategies, a greater increase in adaptive strategies and mindfulness abilities in short-term abstinent individuals. These results demonstrate improvement in ER skills after training in people who were abstinent from alcohol. ART is effective for consolidating abstinence and should be used especially at the beginning of withdrawal to promote the rapid implementation of new ER strategies.

Impulsivity and Mindfulness among Inpatients with Alcohol Use Disorder

Impulsivity is both a risk factor for and a consequence of alcohol use disorder (AUD), for which mindfulness-based approaches have been proven to be effective. However, the specific relationship between mindfulness and impulsivity has been little explored in the literature, especially in people with AUD. This study aims to investigate the relationship between different facets of dispositional mindfulness and impulsivity among people with AUD in an inpatient setting in Brazil. Methods: Participants (n = 165) completed the following self-report measures: the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-SF), and the Short UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (SUPPS-P). Multiple imputation techniques and linear models were employed to assess the relationships between dispositional mindfulness and impulsivity. Results: In complete case analysis, the UPPS-P facet "lack of premeditation" was inversely related to the FFMQ facet "non-reactivity" (B = -0.17; p = 0.01); and "positive urgency" was inversely related to "act with awareness" (B = -0.27, p = 0.02) and "non-reactivity" (B = -0.17, p = 0.01). Conclusion: Relationships of varying magnitudes between dispositional mindfulness and impulsivity domains among people with AUD were found, suggesting that higher mindfulness skills are related to less impulsive traits. Our results encourage further longitudinal studies evaluating the potential of specific mindfulness components to decrease impulsivity among AUD inpatients, including its underlying mechanisms.

A Multilevel Study of Alcohol Consumption in Young Adults: Self-Efficacy, Peers' Motivations and Protective Strategies

In both developing and underdeveloped countries there has been a worrying increase in the number of young people drinking alcohol; this public health problem warrants more research. This multilevel study analyzed the influence of drinking refusal self-efficacy, peers’ motivation, and protective behavioral strategies as predictors of alcohol consumption in a sample of 261 young people arranged into 52 social groups (peers who regularly shared leisure activities). A series of questionnaires were administered individually to evaluate beliefs and behaviors related to alcohol consumption at both individual level (drinking refusal self-efficacy) and peer level (enhancement motivation and protective behavioral strategies). The results showed that the individual variable (drinking refusal self-efficacy) predicted alcohol consumption behaviors. The multilevel design allowed us to evaluate the direct and moderated effects of peers’ enhancement motivation and protective behavioral strategies on the relationship between self-efficacy and drinking behavior. These results show the importance of developing cognitive, behavioral, and educational intervention programs to increase young people and university students’ confidence and ability to use protective strategies, in order to reduce alcohol use.

Trait Mindfulness and Progression to Injection Use in Youth With Opioid Addiction

BACKGROUND

Many youth initiate opioid misuse with prescription opioids and transition over time to more severe substance-using behaviors, including injection. Trait mindfulness is a potentially protective factor.

OBJECTIVES

This is a cross-sectional study characterizing a sample of opioid-using youth by level of mindfulness and examines the potential effect modification of emotion regulation on the relationship between mindfulness and progression to injection opioid use.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 112 youth (ages 14-24) was recruited during an episode of inpatient detoxification and residential treatment for opioid use disorders. We examined emotion regulation (Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale), mindfulness (Child Acceptance and Mindfulness Measure), and opioid use. We completed multivariable regressions stratified by degree of emotion regulation looking at relationship of mindfulness on time to injection use from age of first prescription opioid.

RESULTS

Youth had difficulties in emotion regulation (m = 104.2; SD = 2.41) and low mindfulness (m = 19.1;SD = 0.59). While we found overall that mindfulness was associated with time to progression to injection opioid use, there was significant effect modification. Among youth with high levels of difficulty in emotion regulation, those with high mindfulness trait had quicker progressions to injection (-1.31 years; p =.003). In contrast, youth with normal emotion regulation and high mindfulness trait had a slower progression to injection (1.67 years; p =.041). Conclusion/Importance: Our study showed a majority of youth presenting with opioid use disorders have impairments in emotion regulation and deficits in trait mindfulness. The relationship between mindfulness and opioid use is impacted by emotion regulation capacity. More research is needed to understand the various facets of mindfulness and how they interact with emotion regulation in youth.

Anxiety sensitivity and nonmedical benzodiazepine use among adults with opioid use disorder

Nonmedical benzodiazepine use is common among adults with opioid use disorder; however, little is known about this co-occurrence. Anxiety sensitivity-the fear of anxiety symptoms and sensations-motivates behaviors to escape and avoid distressing states, and accordingly is associated with coping motives for substance use. This might be particularly relevant among women, who report using substances to cope with negative emotions more often than men. The aim of the current study was to examine whether nonmedical benzodiazepine use was associated with higher anxiety sensitivity among treatment-seeking adults diagnosed with opioid use disorder, and to investigate whether gender moderated this association. A sample of adults (ranging in age from 18 to 81years) receiving inpatient treatment for opioid use disorder (N=257) completed measures of anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and benzodiazepine use frequency. Results of an analysis of variance indicated that frequency of past-month nonmedical benzodiazepine use was associated with significantly higher anxiety sensitivity. This effect remained when controlling for the effect of anxiety symptoms (F[1, 251]=3.91, p=0.049, η_p²=0.02). Gender moderated this association, and post-hoc analyses found a strong association between nonmedical benzodiazepine use and anxiety sensitivity in women, and not men. Anxiety sensitivity, which can be reduced with treatment, might be a candidate therapeutic target in this population, particularly in women.

Mechanisms of mindfulness training: Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT)

Despite evidence linking trait mindfulness and mindfulness training with a broad range of effects, still little is known about its underlying active mechanisms. Mindfulness is commonly defined as (1) the ongoing monitoring of present-moment experience (2) with an orientation of acceptance. Building on conceptual, clinical, and empirical work, we describe a testable theoretical account to help explain mindfulness effects on cognition, affect, stress, and health outcomes. Specifically, Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT) posits that (1), by enhancing awareness of one's experiences, the skill of attention monitoring explains how mindfulness improves cognitive functioning outcomes, yet this same skill can increase affective reactivity. Second (2), by modifying one's relation to monitored experience, acceptance is necessary for reducing affective reactivity, such that attention monitoring and acceptance skills together explain how mindfulness improves negative affectivity, stress, and stress-related health outcomes. We discuss how MAT contributes to mindfulness science, suggest plausible alternatives to the account, and offer specific predictions for future research.

Dispositional Mindfulness and Memory Problems: The Role of Perceived Stress and Sleep Quality

There is a growing body of evidence exploring the beneficial effects of mindfulness on stress, sleep quality, and memory, though the mechanisms involved are less certain. The present study explored the roles of perceived stress and sleep quality as potential mediators between dispositional mindfulness and subjective memory problems. Data were from a Boston area subsample of the Midlife in the United States study (MIDUS-II) assessed in 2004-2006, and again approximately one year later (N=299). As expected, higher dispositional mindfulness was associated with lower perceived stress and better sleep quality. There was no direct association found between mindfulness and subjective memory problems, however, there was a significant indirect effect through perceived stress, although not with sleep quality. The present findings suggest that perceived stress may play a mediating role between dispositional mindfulness and subjective memory problems, in that those with higher mindfulness generally report experiencing less stress than those with lower mindfulness, which may be protective of memory problems in everyday life.

Drinking Motives Mediate the Relationship between Facets of Mindfulness and Problematic Alcohol Use

Mindfulness is a multi-faceted construct, and research suggests that certain components (e.g., Acting with Awareness, Nonjudging) are associated with less problematic alcohol use. Recent research has examined whether specific drinking motives mediate the relationship between facets of mindfulness and alcohol use. The current study sought to extend this research by examining whether certain drinking motives would mediate the relationship between facets of mindfulness and problematic alcohol use in a sample of 207 college students classified as engaging in problematic drinking. Participants completed the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised (DMQ-R), and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Results indicated that lower levels of Coping motives significantly mediated the relationship between greater Acting with Awareness and lower AUDIT score and between greater Nonjudging and lower AUDIT score. Lower levels of Conformity motives significantly mediated the relationship between greater Acting with Awareness and lower AUDIT score. These findings offer insight into specific mechanisms through which mindfulness is linked to less problematic drinking, and also highlight associations among mindfulness, drinking motives, and alcohol use among a sample of problematic college student drinkers. Future research should determine whether interventions that emphasize Acting with Awareness and Nonjudging facets of mindfulness and/or target coping and conformity motives could be effective for reducing problematic drinking in college students.

Elucidating the Association between Trait Mindfulness and Alcohol Use Behaviors among College Students

Trait mindfulness has been considered a protective factor against alcohol use behaviors; however, the specific trait mindfulness facets, the specific alcohol use behaviors, and the mechanism underlying this relationship remain unclear. The present study examined the relationship between specific trait mindfulness facets and specific alcohol use behaviors, and how cued alcohol cravings might mediate this relationship. High-risk, young adult, undergraduate social drinkers (n = 240, 75% Caucasian, 70% female, mean age 19.4 years) completed a series of questionnaires and reported their level of alcohol cravings following alcohol pictorial cue exposure. Trait mindfulness was associated with less problematic alcohol use (r = -0.19, p < 0.01), but was not associated with alcohol use quantity (r = -0.07, p = 0.30) and duration (r = -0.08, p = 0.21). Only acting with awareness was associated with all types of alcohol use behaviors-including less problematic alcohol use (β = -0.18, p = 0.02), lower alcohol use quantity (β = -0.16, p = 0.04), and shorter alcohol use duration (β = -0.19, p = 0.02). Cued alcohol cravings mediated the negative associations of overall trait mindfulness (b = -0.50, p < 0.05) and acting with awareness (b = -0.32, p < 0.05) with problematic alcohol use, and the negative associations of acting with awareness with alcohol use quantity (b = -1.24, p < 0.05) and alcohol use duration (b = -0.34, p < 0.05). These findings suggest that the protective effect of trait mindfulness likely operates through reducing cued alcohol cravings and might be most specific to acting with awareness among college students, thus suggesting a differential role of separate trait mindfulness facets in this high risk group.

Is being mindful associated with reduced risk for internally-motivated drinking and alcohol use among undergraduates?

Mindfulness encompasses four core skills: observing, describing, acting with awareness, and accepting without judgment; which aim to increase one's awareness, tolerance, and acceptance of internal experiences (Baer et al., 2004). Despite promising clinical results that mindfulness reduces alcohol craving and relapse, complementary etiological research is underdeveloped. Theory suggests that those who are motivated to drink to change internal states (reduce negative/increase positive affect) are at risk for elevated alcohol use. The ability to accept one's affective state should preclude internally-motivated drinking, and thus, elevated alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to parse out which mindfulness skills are central to alcohol use. We hypothesized that accepting without judgment would be a unique negative predictor of internally-motivated drinking (drinking for coping and enhancement motives) and alcohol use. Students (N=76) completed self-report measures of past month alcohol use and four motives for drinking: to cope, for enhancement, to conform, and for social reasons. Partially supporting our hypotheses, accepting without judgment was negatively associated with drinking for coping motives, but was unassociated with drinking for enhancement motives. Interestingly, acceptance without judgment was negatively associated with drinking for conformity motives (to reduce social rejection). Unexpectedly, acting with awareness, but not accepting without judgment, was a negative predictor of alcohol use. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing coping- and conformity-motivated drinking and alcohol use by young adults may benefit from incorporating mindfulness skills training (i.e., accepting without judgment; acting with awareness).

Drinking motives mediate the negative associations between mindfulness facets and alcohol outcomes among college students

Mindfulness and drinking motives have both been linked to affect regulation, yet the relationship between mindfulness and drinking motives is poorly understood. The present study examined whether drinking motives, particularly mood regulatory motives, mediated the associations between facets of mindfulness and alcohol-related outcomes among college students (N = 297). We found 3 specific facets of mindfulness (describing, nonjudging of inner experience, and acting with awareness) to have negative associations with alcohol outcomes. Importantly, specific drinking motives mediated these associations such that lower levels of mindfulness were associated with drinking for distinct reasons (enhancement, coping, conformity), which in turn predicted alcohol use and/or alcohol problems. Our findings suggest that drinking motives, especially mood regulatory and negative reinforcement motives, are important to examine when studying the role of mindfulness in college student drinking behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Drinking identity as a mediator of the relationship between drinking motives and weekly alcohol consumption among heavy drinking undergraduate students

OBJECTIVES

The present study assessed relationships among social, coping, enhancement, and conformity drinking motives and weekly alcohol consumption by considering drinking identity as a mediator of this relationship.

METHODS

Participants were 260 heavy drinking undergraduate students (81% female; Mage=23.45; SD=5.39) who completed a web-based survey.

RESULTS

Consistent with expectations, findings revealed significant direct effects of motives on drinking identity for all four models. Further, significant direct effects emerged for drinking identity on weekly drinking. Results partially supported predictions that motives would have direct effects on drinks per week; total effects of motives on drinking emerged for all models but direct effects of motives on weekly drinking emerged for only enhancement motives. There were significant indirect effects of motives on weekly drinking through drinking identity for all four models.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings supported the hypotheses that drinking identity would mediate the relationship between drinking motives and alcohol consumption. These examinations have practical utility and may inform development and implementation of interventions and programs targeting alcohol misuse among heavy drinking undergraduate students.

Five Facets of Mindfulness and Psychological Health: Evaluating a Psychological Model of the Mechanisms of Mindfulness

There has been an increasing focus on determining the psychological mechanisms underlying the broad effects of mindfulness on psychological health. Mindfulness has been posited to be related to the construct of reperceiving or decentering, defined as a shift in perspective associated with decreased attachment to one's thoughts and emotions. Decentering is proposed to be a meta-mechanism that mobilizes four psychological mechanisms (cognitive flexibility, values clarification, self-regulation, and exposure), which in turn are associated with positive health outcomes. Despite preliminary support for this model, extant studies testing this model have not examined distinct facets of mindfulness. The present study used a multidimensional measure of mindfulness to examine whether this model could account for the associations between ive facets of mindfulness and psychological symptoms (depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety symptoms, alcohol-related problems) in a sample of college students (N = 944). Our findings partially support this model. We found significant double-mediated associations in the expected directions for all outcomes (stress, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms) except alcohol-related problems, and for each of the facets of mindfulness except observing. However, decentering and the specific mechanisms did not fully mediate the associations among mindfulness facets and psychological health outcomes. Experimental and ecological momentary assessment designs are needed to understand the psychological processes that account for the beneficial effects of mindfulness.

A meta-analysis of the relationship between trait mindfulness and substance use behaviors

BACKGROUND

The relationship between trait mindfulness and substance use behaviors has been inconsistent across studies. The current meta-analysis aimed at quantifying the magnitude of this relationship, and at determining how this relationship varies in context of (1) mindfulness facets, (2) substance type, (3) sample characteristics, and (4) substance use severity.

METHODS

Using electronic databases, the literature search yielded 303 articles, but only 39 articles met inclusion criteria to be included in this meta-analysis. The relationship was quantified as a Pearson's r correlation coefficient for all studies.

RESULTS

Findings indicated a small, negative, and significant trait mindfulness-substance use behaviors relationship (r=-0.13). This relationship varied across substance type, clinical status of the sample, and substance use severity. Mindfulness facet was not a significant moderator; however, only particular facets (e.g., acting with awareness, non-judgment, and non-reactivity) were consistently associated with substance use behaviors.

CONCLUSIONS

This meta-analysis quantified the trait mindfulness-substance use behaviors relationship, which can be used as future effect size estimates. Findings also indicated that the trait mindfulness-substance use behaviors relationship was more robust: (1) for alcohol and tobacco use compared to marijuana use behaviors; (2) for problematic compared to non-problematic substance use behaviors; and (3) with inpatient compared to outpatient and non-clinical samples. Further work should continue to examine if acting with awareness, non-judgment, and non-reactivity mindfulness facets are more robustly associated with substance use behaviors. Failure to consider these factors, or collapsing across these factors, could explain the smaller or inconsistently reported associations across previous studies.

When you see it, let it be: Urgency, mindfulness and adolescent substance use

The emotion-based domains of impulsivity, positive and negative urgency, are facets that have garnered attention due to their associations with substance use, and mindfulness based strategies have shown promise in reducing substance use in adults. The aim of the current study was to examine relations among urgency, mindfulness, and substance use in adolescence. Cross-sectional data were collected from students (N=1,051) at a large, private high school in the Pacific Northwest. Both positive and negative urgency were uniquely associated with greater likelihood of lifetime and current alcohol use; only positive urgency predicted lifetime marijuana use. Mindfulness was associated with a lower likelihood of lifetime alcohol or marijuana use. Interactions between urgency and mindfulness were not supported. Our findings highlight the need to explore relations among baseline mindfulness, skills based mindfulness, and personality in adolescent alcohol and other drug use.

Relationship between dispositional mindfulness and substance use: findings from a clinical sample

There has been rapidly increasing interest over the past decade in the potential of mindfulness-based approaches to psychological and medical treatment, including a recent growth in the area of substance abuse. Thus, the relationship between trait mindfulness and substance use has been explored in several studies. Results, however, have been mixed. While several studies of college student populations have evinced positive correlations between levels of trait mindfulness and substance use, the opposite seems to be true in clinical samples, with multiple studies showing a negative association. The current study reviews research in both non-treatment seeking college students and in clinical samples, and examines the relationship between trait mindfulness and substance dependence in a clinical sample (N=281). Further, the study assesses the moderating effect of avoidant coping that might explain the disparate findings in the clinical versus nonclinical samples.

Testing a Moderated Mediation Model of Mindfulness, Psychosocial Stress, and Alcohol Use among African American Smokers

Mindfulness-based strategies have received empirical support for improving coping with stress and reducing alcohol use. The present study presents a moderated mediation model to explain how mindfulness might promote healthier drinking patterns. This model posits that mindfulness reduces perceived stress, leading to less alcohol use, and also weakens the linkage between stress and alcohol use. African American smokers (N = 399, 51% female, M_age = 42) completed measures of dispositional mindfulness, perceived stress, quantity of alcohol use, frequency of binge drinking, and alcohol use disorder symptoms. Participants with higher levels of dispositional mindfulness reported less psychosocial stress and lower alcohol use on all measures. Furthermore, mindfulness moderated the relationship between perceived stress and quantity of alcohol consumption. Specifically, higher perceived stress was associated with increased alcohol use among participants low, but not high, in mindfulness. Mindfulness may be one strategy to reduce perceived stress and associated alcohol use among African American smokers.

Can Preoccupation with Alcohol Override the Protective Properties of Mindful Awareness on Problematic Drinking?

OBJECTIVES

To assess the mediating role of drinking restraint- specifically preoccupation with drinking- on the associations between mindful awareness and alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems.

METHODS

390 heavy-drinking, undergraduate, college students (52% male) were assessed on measures of mindfulness, drinking restraint, alcohol consumption (prior 90-days), and alcohol-related problems via self-report surveys.

RESULTS

Mindfulness was negatively associated with alcohol consumption, problems, and both factors of drinking restraint (emotional preoccupation and behavioral constraint). Emotional preoccupation, but not behavioral constraint, statistically mediated these relationships and demonstrated positive associations with both alcohol consumption and related problems.

CONCLUSIONS

Results replicate previous findings documenting a negative association between mindfulness and alcohol consumption and problems. Statistical mediation models suggest that preoccupation with drinking may be a risk factor that over-rides the health-promoting effects of mindfulness.

The "what" and the "how" of dispositional mindfulness: using interactions among subscales of the five-facet mindfulness questionnaire to understand its relation to substance use

Although self-report measures of dispositional mindfulness have good psychometric properties, a few studies have shown unexpected positive correlations between substance use and mindfulness scales measuring observation of present-moment experience. The current study tested the hypothesis that the relationship between present-moment observation and substance use is moderated by the tendency to be nonjudgmental and nonreactive toward the observed stimuli. Two hundred and ninety-six undergraduates completed the five-facet mindfulness questionnaire (FFMQ), a calendar measuring periods of substance use, and a measure of the five-factor model of personality. Controlling for FFMQ and personality subscales, significant interactions between the observing and nonreactivity subscales indicated that the observing subscale was negatively associated with substance use at higher levels of nonreactivity but positively associated with periods of substance use at lower levels of nonreactivity. Results support the use of statistical interactions among FFMQ subscales to test for the presence of interactive effects of different aspects of mindfulness.

Measuring mindfulness and examining its relationship with alcohol use and negative consequences

Mindfulness has been proposed as a useful adjunct to alcohol abuse treatment. However, very little research has examined the basic relationship between alcohol use and mindfulness. Inconsistency in definition and measurement of mindfulness across studies makes such research difficult to interpret and conduct. Therefore, the current research sought to validate an emerging mindfulness measure, the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and examine its relationship with alcohol use and alcohol-related negative consequences among a sample of 316 college-aged adults. The purported factor structure of the FFMQ was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling was used to examine relations among mindfulness, alcohol use, and alcohol-related negative consequences. Consistent with past research, results supported the five-factor structure of the FFMQ. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that two awareness-based factors of mindfulness were negatively related to alcohol use. After controlling for alcohol use, one acceptance-based factor (nonjudging of thoughts and feelings) was negatively related to alcohol-related consequences, and one awareness-based factor was positively related to consequences (all ps < .05). Effect sizes were small-medium. The results reported here inform the burgeoning development of mindfulness-based addiction treatment and provide additional psychometric validation of the FFMQ.