Association of mindfulness with psychological distress and life satisfaction in Western and Eastern meditators
Australian Journal of Psychology October 2, 2021 Lakshmi Haranath Somaraju, Elizabeth C. Temple, Lewis A. Bizo et al. 6 citations
Meditators in Western countries reported higher levels of acceptance and non-judging, but similar levels of mindful attention, compared to meditators in India. For Eastern meditators, mindful attention was negatively associated with acceptance and non-judging, while for Western meditators these variables were not associated. Western meditators reported lower depression, anxiety, and stress than Eastern meditators, but life satisfaction did not differ between groups. Acceptance explained significant variance in depression, anxiety, and stress for both groups. Acceptance and non-judging explained life satisfaction for Western meditators, but only mindful attention did so for Eastern meditators. The findings suggest Western and Eastern conceptualizations of mindfulness may differ, indicating a need for culturally valid mindfulness scales.