Association of mindfulness with psychological distress and life satisfaction in Western and Eastern meditators

Meditators in Western countries reported higher levels of acceptance and non-judging, but similar levels of mindful attention, compared to meditators in India. For Eastern meditators, mindful attention was negatively associated with acceptance and non-judging, while for Western meditators these variables were not associated. Western meditators reported lower depression, anxiety, and stress than Eastern meditators, but life satisfaction did not differ between groups. Acceptance explained significant variance in depression, anxiety, and stress for both groups. Acceptance and non-judging explained life satisfaction for Western meditators, but only mindful attention did so for Eastern meditators. The findings suggest Western and Eastern conceptualizations of mindfulness may differ, indicating a need for culturally valid mindfulness scales.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Objective This study investigated if meditators living in India (Eastern Meditators: EMs) differed from those living in Western countries (WMs) in self-reported levels of mindfulness, depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction and the association between these variables. Method The 229 participants (18–81 years, M = 34.7 years, SD = 13.3; 52% EMs) completed scales measuring depression, anxiety, stress, life satisfaction, and mindfulness and its components. Results WMs indicated significantly higher levels of acceptance and non-judging than EMs, but similar levels of mindful attention. For EMs, mindful attention was negatively associated with acceptance and non-judging, while for WMs these variables were not associated. WMs reported lower levels of depression, anxiety and stress than EMs but the groups did not differ in levels of life satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses showed that, for both WMs and EMs, acceptance explained significant proportions of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress. Acceptance and non-judging explained significant proportions of the variance in life satisfaction for WMs, but only mindful attention did so for EMs. Conclusions Results suggest that Western and Eastern conceptualisations of mindfulness and associated meditation practices may differ in critical ways. There is a need to develop valid mindfulness scales for use in Eastern collectivist cultures.