Ćavar Filipa, Mihić Josipa, Milas Goran
Institute of Social Sciences "Ivo Pilar", 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2025 Apr 15;13(8):906. doi: 10.3390/healthcare13080906.
Adolescence is a critical period for mental health, with depression increasing rapidly and often leading to lifelong consequences. In recent decades, the prevalence of elevated depressive symptoms among adolescents has steadily risen, making it a significant public health concern. While research supports the benefits of mindfulness-based practices in reducing adolescent depressive symptoms, the role of trait mindfulness remains underexplored. Although some studies suggest a link between trait mindfulness and lower depressive symptomatology, a longitudinal perspective could provide deeper insights into this relationship. Given adolescents' heightened vulnerability to mental health issues, understanding the potential causal link between trait mindfulness and depression is crucial for both prevention and intervention efforts. This study examines the relationship between mindfulness and depression in a three-wave longitudinal study of 1618 secondary school students (Males: N = 671, M = 16.4 years, SD = 0.60; Females: N = 947, M = 16.3 years, SD = 0.65) using a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. Findings indicate that mindfulness and depression share a substantial proportion of variance (r = 0.48) at the stable trait level, suggesting that sustained attentional focus, a hallmark of mindfulness, is consistently associated with fewer depressive symptoms. At the within-person level, momentary deviations from stable mindfulness levels in the first and second waves were linked to lower depressive symptoms in subsequent waves (β = -0.21, = 0.016; β = -0.44, = 0.03, respectively). These findings suggest that even temporary increases in mindfulness may provide additional protection against depression. Overall, the results suggest that trait mindfulness is associated with a reduced risk of developing depressive symptoms at both the between-person and within-person levels. Specifically, adolescents with higher stable levels of mindfulness tend to report fewer depressive symptoms over time, and even momentary increases in mindfulness beyond an individual's typical level are linked to reductions in subsequent depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the potential of mindfulness-based interventions in mitigating adolescent depression and underscore the importance of cultivating mindfulness as a protective factor during this critical stage of development.
青春期是心理健康的关键时期，抑郁症迅速增加，常常导致终身后果。近几十年来，青少年中抑郁症状升高的患病率稳步上升，这使其成为一个重大的公共卫生问题。虽然研究支持基于正念的练习在减轻青少年抑郁症状方面的益处，但特质正念的作用仍未得到充分探索。尽管一些研究表明特质正念与较低的抑郁症状之间存在联系，但纵向研究视角可以更深入地洞察这种关系。鉴于青少年对心理健康问题的易感性增强，了解特质正念与抑郁症之间潜在的因果联系对于预防和干预工作都至关重要。本研究采用随机截距交叉滞后面板模型，对1618名中学生（男性：N = 671，M = 16.4岁，SD = 0.60；女性：N = 947，M = 16.3岁，SD = 0.65）进行了三波纵向研究，以考察正念与抑郁症之间的关系。研究结果表明，在稳定特质水平上，正念和抑郁症共享相当大比例的方差（r = 0.48），这表明持续的注意力集中，即正念的一个标志，始终与较少的抑郁症状相关。在个体内部水平上，第一波和第二波中与稳定正念水平的瞬间偏差与后续波中较低的抑郁症状相关（β = -0.21，p = 0.016；β = -0.44，p = 0.03）。这些发现表明，即使是正念的暂时增加也可能为预防抑郁症提供额外的保护。总体而言，结果表明特质正念在个体间和个体内部水平上都与抑郁症状发生风险的降低相关。具体而言，正念稳定水平较高的青少年随着时间的推移往往报告较少的抑郁症状，甚至个体正念水平超出其典型水平的瞬间增加也与后续抑郁症状的减少相关。这些发现凸显了基于正念的干预措施在减轻青少年抑郁症方面的潜力，并强调了在这一关键发展阶段培养正念作为保护因素的重要性。
