Impact of a Momentary Mindfulness Intervention on Rumination, Negative Affect, and their Dynamics in Daily Life.
Affective science – June 01, 2025
Source: PubMed
Summary
Brief moments of mindfulness can significantly reduce negative thought patterns like rumination. A micro-randomized trial using ambulatory assessment investigated if short mindfulness interventions in daily life could lessen rumination and negative affect. Participants received smartphone prompts, completing either a mindfulness exercise or a control task, then reported their feelings. Results show these interventions successfully lowered both rumination and negative affect, suggesting a promising approach to improve daily emotional well-being.
Abstract
Rumination and negative affect are mutually reinforcing experiences. Their dynamic relation can confer vulnerability to psychopathology. Cultivating mindfulness has been proposed to buffer against such downward spirals of negativity. However, it remains unclear whether practicing mindfulness in daily life causally impacts rumination, negative affect, and their dynamics. We investigated this using a micro-randomized intensive longitudinal trial. Participants (N = 91) were prompted eight times per day for 10 days using a smartphone app. At each prompt, participants were randomized to complete a brief mindfulness intervention or an active-control task and then reported levels of rumination and negative affect. Results of dynamic structural equation models showed that the mindfulness intervention led to lower levels of rumination and negative affect but that it had no reliable impact on their dynamics. Thus, cultivating mindfulness in daily life may be a promising approach for decreasing rumination and negative affect but not their dynamical relation. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-024-00291-9.