The Role of Mindfulness between Childhood Abuse and Trait Anxiety

Mindfulness is a recent interesting concept that is known to be a protective trait in terms of psychological well-being (Branstrom et al., 2011) and it is being used as a psychological intervention method (Kimbrough et al., 2010). The main purpose of this study was to examine the direct effect of childhood traumatic experiences on trait anxiety as well as its indirect (mediated) effect through mindfulness. The sample of the study consisted of 467 participants; 264 female (56.5%) and 203 male (43.5%). The average age of the sample was 22.89 (SD = 3.34). Demographic Information Form, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale and Trait Anxiety Inventory were used to collect data. The mediator role of the mindfulness was examined with PROCESS macro by Hayes (2013). Results indciated that mindfulness plays a mediating role between childhood abuse and neglect experiences and trait anxiety. Consequently, studying childhood traumatic experiences and trait anxiety with mindfulness is thought to provide a comprehensive explanation on this issue. It could also provide valuable knowledge and insights on intervention and prevention studies.