Dual pathways linking mindfulness to life satisfaction and depression: the mediating roles of self-compassion and rumination in Chinese university students.
BMC psychology May 27, 2025 Yunpeng Wu, Liping Qin, Xizheng Xu et al. 6 citations
Mindfulness is linked to better mental health, but the pathways are not fully understood. A survey of 1,409 Chinese university students tested the Dual Pathways Mindfulness Model, which proposes that mindfulness relates to life satisfaction and depression through self-compassion and rumination in sequence. Higher mindfulness was associated with greater self-compassion, which was linked to lower rumination, and in turn to higher life satisfaction and fewer depressive symptoms. Mindfulness was positively associated with life satisfaction and negatively with depression. Self-compassion and rumination each separately mediated these associations, and a sequential pathway through both was also found. The cross-sectional design prevents causal conclusions.