Can Peace of Mind Be Attained Through Mindfulness and Self-Compassion? The Mediating Role of Nonattachment

Peace of mind is an important affective well-being valued in Chinese culture. Mindfulness and self-compassion had the potential to promote peace of mind. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects were not well understood. The current cross-sectional study aimed to investigate whether nonattachment explained the benefits of mindfulness and self-compassion on peace of mind. A sample of 364 Chinese adults was recruited from WeChat, a popular social media platform in China. Participants filled out an online survey including measures of dispositional mindfulness, self-compassion, nonattachment, and peace of mind. Correlation analyses showed that all of these variables were significantly and positively associated with each other. More importantly, nonattachment significantly mediated the associations between dispositional mindfulness and self-compassion with peace of mind. These findings suggest that nonattachment may be a potential mechanism by which mindfulness and self-compassion promote peace of mind among Chinese adults. If the mediating effects are further confirmed in future longitudinal and experimental studies, mindfulness and self-compassion interventions can emphasize nonattachment to optimize their effects on peace of mind.