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Meditation Practice Is Associated with a Values-Oriented Life: the Mediating Role of Decentering and Mindfulness

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Abstract

Clarification of personal values and meditation practice has been associated in most meditation traditions and in academic texts. Both values-related behavior and meditation practice increases well-being, but their relationship has not been well studied. It has been suggested that values, together with self-regulation, psychological flexibility, and exposure, are key mechanisms of action in mindfulness. The aims of this study were to explore the association between meditation and values and to examine the processes involved in this relation. A sample of 235 meditation-naïve participants and 274 subjects with varying levels of experience in meditation practice completed an online assessment protocol composed of Five Facets of Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), Decentering Questionnaire (EQ), Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ), and Engagement with Life Scale (ELS). Results revealed that daily meditators were more consistent, aware, and life-fulfilled about their values; moreover, these measures correlated with the mindfulness process and decentering. The relation between meditation practice and values-related behavior (assessed by the VLQ) was mediated by decentering. The association between meditation practice and Valued Living and Life Fulfillment (measured by the ELS) was mediated by the decentering, describing, and non-judging dimensions of mindfulness. The findings in this study support the relation between meditation and personal values, mediated by the decentering, describing, and non-judging facets of mindfulness.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all participants of the study. JS, AC, and JGC were supported by PROMOSAM: Investigación en procesos, mecanismos y tratamientos psicológicos para la promoción de la salud mental (Red de Excelencia PSI2014-56303-REDT) founded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (2014). The authors thank Bradley Londres for his assistance in editing and improving the text.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Les Corts Centre d’Higiene Mental, Barcelona, Spain

    Alba Franquesa

  2. Departament de Psiquiatria i Medicina Legal, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Alba Franquesa & Juan Carlos Pascual

  3. Department of Personality, Evaluation and Psychological Treatments, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Ausiàs Cebolla

  4. Department of Psychiatry, Miguel Servet Hospital & University of Zaragoza, Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud, Red de Actividades Preventivas y de Promoción de la Salud (REDIAPP), Zaragoza, Spain

    Javier García-Campayo

  5. “Mente Aberta”—Brazilian Center for Mindfulness and Health Promotion, Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, Brazil

    Marcelo Demarzo

  6. Servei de Psiquiatria, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM) (Madrid), Av. Sant Antoni Mª Claret 167, Barcelona, 08025, Spain

    Matilde Elices, Juan Carlos Pascual & Joaquim Soler

  7. Departament de Psicología Clínica y de la Salut, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Matilde Elices & Joaquim Soler

Authors
  1. Alba Franquesa
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  2. Ausiàs Cebolla
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  3. Javier García-Campayo
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  4. Marcelo Demarzo
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  5. Matilde Elices
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  6. Juan Carlos Pascual
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  7. Joaquim Soler
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Contributions

AF: designed the study, analyzed the data, and wrote the first draft of the paper. AC: collaborated in the design of the study, the data collection, and the data analyses. JGC: collaborated in the design of the study, the data collection, and the data analyses. MD: collaborated in the design of the study, the data collection, and writing of the final manuscript. ME: collaborated in the writing of the manuscript. JCP: collaborated in the writing of the final manuscript. JS: collaborated in the design, data analyses, and the writing of the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joaquim Soler.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Franquesa, A., Cebolla, A., García-Campayo, J. et al. Meditation Practice Is Associated with a Values-Oriented Life: the Mediating Role of Decentering and Mindfulness. Mindfulness 8, 1259–1268 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0702-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0702-5

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