Mindfulness and Religiosity/Spirituality as Protecting Factors for Internalizing Symptoms Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Moderated Moderation Model
Location
Ballroom
Start Date
4-12-2019 9:00 AM
End Date
4-12-2019 2:30 PM
Poster Number
63
Faculty Sponsor’s Department
Psychology
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Diana Morelen
Type
Poster: Competitive
Project's Category
Psychology
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic and stressful events during a person’s early life that can influence their later mental health, physical health, and wellbeing. Internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression are common mental health outcomes associated with ACEs. Two factors, religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and mindfulness, are possible protective factors that may help lessen the effects of ACEs on later mental health. This study hopes to examine whether R/S and mindfulness are protective factors in the relationship between ACEs from childhood and internalizing symptoms in adulthood. Further, this study examines whether the protective impact of R/S is further strengthened by an individual’s mindfulness (moderated moderation). Participants (N = 769, age M = 20.43, SD = 4.51) for this study were recruited through the SONA research platform at East Tennessee State University as a part of the REACH (Religion, Emotions, and Current Health) self-report survey. We used a retrospective measure, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire, to assess childhood adversity. We used the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity and Spirituality (BMMRS) to assess current religiosity/spirituality of participants and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) to assess current overall mindfulness of participants. To examine internalizing symptoms of the sample, we used the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire to assess anxiety symptoms, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R-20) to assess depression symptoms. The analyses for this project were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Bivariate analyses for this project will be conducted using Pearson’s correlations and the moderated moderation model will be tested using the Hayes Process Macro (version 3.0, Model 3). We predict that ACEs will be related to internalizing symptoms as is commonly demonstrated in the literature, such that more ACES are associated with more symptoms of anxiety and depression. Further, we expect that both R/S and mindfulness will weaken (i.e. moderate) this relationship. Additionally, we propose that mindfulness will impact the moderating (protective) effect of R/S on this relationship, such that the protective effect of R/S is greatest for those with high levels of mindfulness.
Mindfulness and Religiosity/Spirituality as Protecting Factors for Internalizing Symptoms Associated with Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Moderated Moderation Model
Ballroom
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic and stressful events during a person’s early life that can influence their later mental health, physical health, and wellbeing. Internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression are common mental health outcomes associated with ACEs. Two factors, religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and mindfulness, are possible protective factors that may help lessen the effects of ACEs on later mental health. This study hopes to examine whether R/S and mindfulness are protective factors in the relationship between ACEs from childhood and internalizing symptoms in adulthood. Further, this study examines whether the protective impact of R/S is further strengthened by an individual’s mindfulness (moderated moderation). Participants (N = 769, age M = 20.43, SD = 4.51) for this study were recruited through the SONA research platform at East Tennessee State University as a part of the REACH (Religion, Emotions, and Current Health) self-report survey. We used a retrospective measure, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) questionnaire, to assess childhood adversity. We used the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity and Spirituality (BMMRS) to assess current religiosity/spirituality of participants and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) to assess current overall mindfulness of participants. To examine internalizing symptoms of the sample, we used the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire to assess anxiety symptoms, and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R-20) to assess depression symptoms. The analyses for this project were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Bivariate analyses for this project will be conducted using Pearson’s correlations and the moderated moderation model will be tested using the Hayes Process Macro (version 3.0, Model 3). We predict that ACEs will be related to internalizing symptoms as is commonly demonstrated in the literature, such that more ACES are associated with more symptoms of anxiety and depression. Further, we expect that both R/S and mindfulness will weaken (i.e. moderate) this relationship. Additionally, we propose that mindfulness will impact the moderating (protective) effect of R/S on this relationship, such that the protective effect of R/S is greatest for those with high levels of mindfulness.