Stress and coping: The role of mindfulness

Stress can have negative implications not only for the individual but also the family, organisation and society as a whole. The way in which individuals perceive their environment directly influences their coping response. The use of mindfulness in daily life may promote more adaptive coping styles by mitigating the rumination and overlay of habitual cognitions and behaviours. The aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between mindfulness and levels of perceived stress and use of coping strategies in a sample from the general population. A total of 112 participants (41 males) were recruited via snowball sampling through the social network website Facebook. All participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003), the Perceived Stress Scale (Roth & Cohen, 1986), and the Deakin Coping Scale (Moore, 2003). Results using Multidimensional Scaling show that mindfulness was separate from perceived stress and use of avoidant coping strategies, while the positive coping strategies clustered between mindfulness and stress and avoidance. Correlational techniques add support to the finding that mindfulness is related to appraisal of the demand/situation while negatively related to avoidant coping and stress. Limitations of the current study and directions for future research are discussed.