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Neural Underpinnings of the Role of Trait Mindfulness in Emotion Regulation in Adolescents

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Abstract

Objectives

Mindfulness improves psychological and mental health by reducing negative emotional experiences and facilitating attentional processes and cognitive control during emotion regulation. However, little neurological evidence links mindfulness and emotion regulation in adolescence, which is often described as an emotionally turbulent period.

Methods

Forty-three adolescents (Mage = 12.02, SD = 0.63) were recruited to examine the relationship between trait mindfulness of negative emotion regulation and event-related potentials (ERPs) in the brain.

Results

(1) The amplitudes of P2, N2, late positive potential (LPP) 600–1000 ms, and LPP 1000–1500 ms recorded during the negative no regulation condition negatively correlated with observing. (2) The amplitude of LPP 600–1000 ms recorded during the negative downregulation condition also negatively correlated with observing. (3) The amplitudes of N2 and LPP 600–1000 ms recorded during the negative no regulation condition positively correlated with nonjudging.

Conclusions

The results provide neurological evidence that trait mindfulness influences the regulation of negative emotions and affects how negative emotions are processed. Different facets of trait mindfulness have different impacts on adolescents during emotion regulation.

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Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31700941), the Humanity and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China (16YJC190003), the Humanity and Social Science Youth foundation of Ministry of Education of China (15YJC190002), and the National Social Science Fund of China (No.16BSH089).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Xinmei Deng & Lin Zhang

  2. Department of Sociology, Law school, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Qiufeng Gao & Yanzhen Li

Authors
  1. Xinmei Deng
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  2. Qiufeng Gao
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  3. Lin Zhang
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  4. Yanzhen Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qiufeng Gao.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Ethical Approval

The research protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Shenzhen University. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board of Shenzhen University and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Deng, X., Gao, Q., Zhang, L. et al. Neural Underpinnings of the Role of Trait Mindfulness in Emotion Regulation in Adolescents. Mindfulness 11, 1120–1130 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01276-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-019-01276-7

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