Incremental Validity of Mindfulness‐Based Attention in Relation to the Concurrent Prediction of Anxiety and Depressive Symptomatology and Perceptions of Health

This investigation evaluated the role of mindfulness-based attention in concurrently predicting anxiety and depressive symptomatology and perceived health functioning in a community sample of 170 young adults (95 females; mean age (Mage)522.2 years, SD57.6). Partially consistent with prediction, results indicated that, relative to negative and positive affectivity and emotional expression and processing associated with approach-oriented coping, mindfulness-based attention incrementally predicted anhedonic depressive, but not anxious arousal, symptoms. Additionally, consistent with prediction, mindfulness-based attention demonstrated incremental validity in relation to perceived health, and the degree of impairment of health in terms of physical and mental functioning. Results are discussed in relation to the construct development of mindfulness-based attention, and specifically, the role(s) of this factor in emotional and physical health processes. Key words: mindfulness; attention; perceived health; anxiety; depression; positive and negative affectivity; approach-oriented coping.