هوش هیجانی واسطه ارتباط میان تمرکز حواس و بهزیستن ذهنی

Abstract Both mindfulness and emotional intelligence are associated with positive life outcomes, including greater subjective well-being. The present study examined whether emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being. Participants completed measures of characteristic mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and affect and life satisfaction as indices of subjective well-being. Higher levels of mindfulness were associated with greater emotional intelligence, positive affect, and life satisfaction and lower negative affect. Higher levels of emotional intelligence were associated with greater positive affect and life satisfaction and lower negative affect. Emotional intelligence mediated between mindfulness and higher positive affect, lower negative affect, and greater life satisfaction. These results provide information regarding a possible process through which mindfulness exerts its beneficial effects.

. Introduction Mindfulness consists of non-evaluative awareness and focus on the present. Mindfulness is a flexible state of consciousness that encompasses open and receptive attention and awareness of both one’s inner state and the outside world (Brown and Ryan, 2003 and Brown et al., 2007). Characteristics of mindfulness include clarity of awareness, non-conceptual (or non-semantic) awareness, ability to widen or narrow attention, non-interference of evaluation or judgement with sensory experience, orientation to the present, and aware transitions between focus of attention such as in transitions between attention on the inner self and the outer world (Brown et al., 2007). As Brown et al. (2007) pointed out, as well as being a state of consciousness, mindfulness is also a trait, in that some individuals are more typically in a mindful state than other individuals. Studies of the biological underpinnings of higher levels of trait mindfulness (e.g., Frewen et al., 2010) suggest that mindfulness is associated with differential brain activation during emotional processing. Higher levels of mindfulness are associated with an impressive variety of good outcomes, including better mental health, greater relationship satisfaction, and more effective management of pain (Brown et al., 2007). One of the most firmly established correlates of trait mindfulness is greater subjective well-being (Baer et al., 2008, Brown et al., 2009, Brown and Ryan, 2003, Falkenstrom, 2010 and Howell et al., 2008). For example, greater mindfulness is associated with significantly more positive affect, less negative affect, and greater life satisfaction (Brown & Ryan, 2003). As mindfulness increases as a result of interventions, such as meditation training, well-being also tends to increase (Falkenstrom, 2010, Fredrickson et al., 2008 and Zautra et al., 2008). Some preliminary evidence suggests that higher levels of mindfulness are associated with more adaptive emotional functioning, operationalized as emotional intelligence (Baer et al., 2004 and Brown and Ryan, 2003). Models of emotional intelligence (Mayer et al., 2008 and Salovey and Mayer, 1990) include emotional abilities or competencies (such as perceiving, understanding, managing and harnessing emotions effectively in the self and others) that group together and that involve drawing on emotion in adaptive ways. Perceiving of emotion involves recognizing emotional cues. Understanding emotion entails applying knowledge of the complexities and subtleties of emotional experience. Managing emotions involves being able to regulate emotions effectively and appropriately. Harnessing emotions consists of utilizing emotion towards other ends such as drawing on positive mood to facilitate creativity. Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (2004) argued that emotional intelligence is best conceived of as an ability similar in nature to cognitive intelligence. Other theorists and researchers (Neubauer and Freudenthaler, 2005 and Petrides and Furnham, 2003) posited that emotional intelligence can also be conceptualized as dispositional or trait functioning. Even though the emotional intelligence literature has sometimes presented ability and trait functioning conceptualisations of emotional intelligence as mutually exclusive alternatives (e.g., Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2000), they may be complementary dimensions of adaptive emotional functioning (Schutte, Malouff, & Bhullar, 2009). Higher levels of emotional intelligence, both measured as a trait and as an ability, have been found to be associated with various positive outcomes, and especially with indices of subjective well-being such as positive affect and life satisfaction (Austin et al., 2005, Brackett and Mayer, 2003, Brackett et al., 2004, Martins et al., 2010, Schutte et al., 2009, Schutte et al., 2002, Schutte et al., 2007, Van Rooy and Viswesvaran, 2004 and Wing et al., 2006). Core aspects of mindfulness help explain the connection between emotional intelligence and mindfulness. As Brown et al. (2007) pointed out mindfulness adds “clarity and vividness to current experience and encourages closer, moment-to-moment sensory contact with life” (p. 219) and “enhances self-regulated functioning that comes with ongoing attentional sensitivity to psychological, somatic and environmental cues” (p. 220). Koole (2009) pointed out that mindfulness encourages development of emotional regulation. Thus, core aspects of mindfulness may make it more likely that individuals develop the competencies comprising emotional intelligence. Mindfulness may encourage individuals to accurately perceive their own and others’ emotions and effectively regulate emotions. The non-evaluative aspect of mindfulness should make it more likely that individuals are able to gain accurate understanding of their own and others’ emotions. The self-regulated functioning inherent in mindfulness relates to the emotion management component of emotional intelligence. Finally, awareness of current emotions may facilitate the timely harnessing of emotions. Facilitating the growth of emotional intelligence may be one of the processes through which mindfulness brings about desirable outcomes. Greater subjective well-being is associated with both more mindfulness (Baer et al., 2008, Brown et al., 2009, Brown and Ryan, 2003 and Falkenstrom, 2010) and higher emotional intelligence (Austin et al., 2005, Brackett and Mayer, 2003, Brackett et al., 2004, Schutte et al., 2009, Schutte et al., 2002, Van Rooy and Viswesvaran, 2004 and Wing et al., 2006). Mindfulness may facilitate the development of greater emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence in turn may lead to greater well-being. The present study set out first to replicate previous findings regarding the connections between mindfulness and subjective well-being, mindfulness and emotional intelligence, and emotional intelligence and subjective well-being. High positive affect, low negative affect, and greater life satisfaction are often used as indices of subjective well-being (Lyubomirsky, King, & Diener, 2005) and the present study likewise used them as indicators of subjective well-being. Second, the study set out to examine whether emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between mindfulness and subjective well-being.

Results Greater mindfulness was significantly associated with more positive affect, more life satisfaction, and less negative affect. Greater mindfulness was also associated with higher emotional intelligence. Higher emotional intelligence was associated with more positive affect, more life satisfaction and less negative affect (see Table 1). Table 1. Correlations, means, and standard deviations (N = 125). Measures Mindfulness Emotional intelligence Positive affect Negative affect Life satisfaction Mindfulness – Emotional intelligence 0.65⁎⁎ – Positive affect 0.57⁎⁎ 0.55⁎⁎ – Negative affect −0.22⁎ −0.31⁎⁎ 0.03 – Life satisfaction 0.48⁎⁎ 0.47⁎⁎ 0.00 −0.41⁎⁎ – Mean 36.44 122.24 30.83 17.34 23.34 Standard deviation 6.20 13.07 4.88 4.85 6.99 ⁎ p = 0.05. ⁎⁎ p = 0.01. Table options Mediation analysis traditionally involves four steps (Kinney, 2006). First, the predictor must correlate with the dependent variable. Second, the mediator must correlate with the dependent variable. Third, in a multivariate regression that includes both the predictor and the mediator, the mediator must have a significant semi partial correlation with the dependent variable. Fourth, in that same regression, the semi partial correlation between the predictor and the dependent variable must be smaller than the 0-order correlation of the two variables. Preacher and Hayes (2004) suggested a fifth step, showing that the reduction in correlation is statistically significant, using the Sobel test, which involves bootstrapping methods. We tested three mediation models, each including mindfulness as the predictor and emotional intelligence as the mediator. For the three tests, the dependent variable was, respectively, positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction. For each of the models, the five steps indicated mediation. Table 1 shows the needed associations for mediation steps 1 and 2. Table 2 shows steps 3, 4, and 5, including the results of the multivariate analyses and the Sobel test significance levels. Emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between greater mindfulness and more positive affect. Emotional intelligence fully mediated the relationship between greater mindfulness and less negative affect. Finally, emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between greater mindfulness and more life satisfaction. For each of the models, the Sobel test using the bootstrapping method indicated significant mediation. Table 2. Mediation analyses (N = 125). Multivariate correlation of dependent variable with predictor and mediator Multivariate analyses Mediation p a Semi partial r t p Positive affect Mindfulness 0.28 3.83 0.001 Emotional intelligence 0.24 3.34 0.001 0.002 Negative affect Mindfulness −0.03 0.36 0.72 Emotional intelligence −0.21 2.40 0.018 0.021 Life satisfaction Mindfulness 0.23 2.98 0.004 Emotional intelligence 0.21 2.65 0.009 0.011 a Based on 3000 bootstrap resamples using the Sobel test.