Mindfulness Facets Differentially Mediate the Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Cannabis Use Severity

Objective Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are common and robustly predict drug misuse. Dispositional mindfulness inversely associates with both childhood adversity and drug use severity. However, mindfulness is a multi-faceted construct, and emerging findings suggest that facets may differentially link to favorable outcomes. The present study tested the hypothesis that mindfulness facets would differentially mediate the relationship between ACEs and cannabis misuse. Method A college student sample ( n = 354) completed the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), and Cannabis Use Disorders Identification Test-Revised (CUDIT-R). Individual mediation models tested whether FFMQ total score and facets (Awareness, Nonjudge, Observe) differentially mediated the relationship between ACEs and CUDIT-R scores. Results Significant associations were observed between the number of ACE exposures, CUDIT-R severity, and the three FFMQ facets. The FFMQ Awareness (unstandardized indirect effect (IE) = 0.12, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.03, 0.22]), Nonjudge (IE = 0.24, SE = 0.07, 95% CI [0.11, 0.39]), and Observe (IE = 0.11, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.03, 0.22]) facets each partially mediated the relationship between ACE exposures and CUDIT-R severity in their individual models and accounted for 20%, 41%, and 19% of the variance in this relationship, respectively. Conclusions Findings highlight the differential importance of mindfulness facets and the need to consider the unique contributions of these facets in understanding the relationship on ACE-related consequences and drug misuse. Preregistration This study is not pre-registered.