Network Analysis of Mindfulness Facets, Affect, Compassion, and Distress

Abstract

Objectives Mindfulness, positive affect, and compassion may protect against psychological distress but there is lack of understanding about the ways in which these factors are linked to mental health. Network analysis is a statistical method used to investigate complex associations among constructs in a single network and is particularly suitable for this purpose. The aim of this study was to explore how mindfulness facets, affect, and compassion were linked to psychological distress using network analysis. Methods The sample (n = 400) included equal numbers from general and student populations who completed measures of five mindfulness facets, compassion, positive and negative affect, depression, anxiety, and stress. Network analysis was used to explore the direct associations between these variables. Results Compassion was directly related to positive affect, which in turn was strongly and inversely related to depression and positively related to the observing and describing facets of mindfulness. The non-judgment facet of mindfulness was strongly and inversely related to negative affect, anxiety, and depression, while non-reactivity and acting with awareness were inversely associated with stress and anxiety, respectively. Strong associations were found between all distress variables. Conclusions The present network analysis highlights the strong link between compassion and positive affect and suggests that observing and describing the world through the lens of compassion may enhance resilience to depression. Taking a non-judging and non-reacting stance toward internal experience while acting with awareness may protect against psychological distress. Applicability of these findings can be examined in experimental studies aiming to prevent distress and enhance psychological well-being.

A network approach to the five-facet model of mindfulness

“…Of note, like the two previous network studies comprising the five facets 41 , 42 , there was no direct association between Acting with Awareness and Non-Reactivity. As suggested Medvedev and colleagues 41 , these two facets might act as bridges between the facets and maladaptive factors such as depression and negative affect, by prompting responding to external and internal stressors through acting with awareness and allowing unpleasant thoughts, feelings, and sensations to come and go without reacting to them. A future step will thus be to capitalize on temporal network analyses from intensive longitudinal research designs to further elucidate the role of these two facets.…”

“…With regard to mindfulness, only two studies thus far have applied a network analytic framework to examine the interdependence between the five facets of mindfulness, and these studies specifically focused on the relations of the facets with other clinical psychological constructs 41 , 42 . In one study, Medvedev and colleagues 41 examined the relations between the facets of mindfulness, compassion, positive and negative affect, and psychological distress. They found that Non-judging was inversely related to all aspects of psychological distress, whereas Non-reactivity and Acting with Awareness acted as bridges between protective and maladaptive factors.…”

“…This is particularly unfortunate, as the five-facet approach was built upon theoretical models, which assumed sets of interrelated skills as the driving force of mindfulness 10 , 15 , 17 , 18 , 25 – 27 . Likewise, these two previous studies 41 , 42 relied upon partial correlations and did not probe the probabilistic dependencies among the facets. As a result, uncertainty remains regarding whether certain facets are probabilistically more dependent upon the presence of others than vice versa.…”

Compassion protects against vital exhaustion and negative emotionality

“…A number of previous studies have found that compassion training may not reduce negative affect (Engen & Singer, 2015;Klimecki et al, 2013Klimecki et al, , 2014 and that dispositional compassion for others' suffering may not associate with negative affect in questionnaire-based studies (Arimitsu et al, 2019;López et al, 2018;Medvedev et al, 2020).…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, no study has investigated the relationship of compassion and vital exhaustion. Regarding negative affect, three studies have found that dispositional compassion for others' suffering may not associate with negative affect (Arimitsu et al, 2019;López et al, 2018;Medvedev et al, 2020).…”