The associations of dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and reappraisal with symptoms of depression and anxiety among a sample of Indigenous students in Canada.

Depression and anxiety are major concerns among students. Unfortunately, there are disparities between the mental health of majority culture students (White; Judeo-Christian) and that of Indigenous students. Although mindfulness, self-compassion, and reappraisal are correlated with symptoms of psychopathology among White students, these relationships have never been examined among Indigenous students. Undergraduate Indigenous students recruited from a Canadian institution. We administered self-report measures of depression, anxiety, dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, and emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and emotional suppression). 37.5% ( = 33) and 40.9% ( = 36) reported significant symptoms of depression or anxiety, respectively. Dispositional mindfulness and self-compassion were negatively and strongly associated with depression symptoms ( = -.58 and  = -.58, respectively). Further, both constructs were also negatively and strongly associated with anxiety symptoms ( = -.55 and  = -.53, respectively). We also found a negative correlation between reappraisal and depression and anxiety symptoms. Mindfulness, self-compassion, and reappraisal are associated with depression and anxiety symptoms among this sample of Indigenous students.