EMOTION REGULATION AND MINDFULNESS
Shannon M. Erismana, Kristalyn Salters-Pedneaultb, and Lizabeth Roemera
a
University of Massachusetts Boston
b
Now at VA Boston Healthcare System
contact: shannon.erisman@umb.edu
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the correlational relationship
between mindfulness skills and emotion regulation in an
attempt to elucidate the role of mindfulness in healthy emotion
regulation. Questionnaires were distributed to 404 (254
female and 191 male) undergraduate students at a large, urban
university. Results indicate that mindfulness does correlate
with emotion regulation, even while controlling for symptoms
of depression, anxiety and stress. These results provide
support for the usefulness of mindfulness skills in facilitating
adaptive emotion regulation.
INTRODUCTION
Emotion regulation has been inconsistently defined in
the literature. Some researchers have conceptualized emotion
regulation as controlling emotional experience (e.g., Kopp,
1989). Others consider emotions as potentially serving a
valuable function, and therefore conceptualize emotion
regulation more broadly. Such a definition of emotion
regulation may include the ability to act in accordance to
values while experiencing negative emotion (Gratz & Roemer,
2004). More generally, adaptive regulation of emotion may
involve the ability to flexibly regulate emotion in accordance
with what the environment demands (Thompson, 1994).
Mindfulness may be one way to work towards
adaptive emotion regulation. Mindfulness has been defined
as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the
present moment, and nonjudgmentally” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994).
More recently, Bishop and colleagues (2004) conceptualized
mindfulness as the maintenance of attention on the present
moment, as well as bringing a quality of curiosity, openness,
and acceptance to that awareness. Mindfulness, through
bringing awareness to emotional experiences in a way that is
compassionate and nonjudgmental, may facilitate a healthy
engagement with emotions (Hayes & Feldman, 2004).
The current study is a preliminary investigation of the
relationship between mindfulness and emotion regulation, as
measured by self-report questionnaires. A measure of
depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms was also
incorporated in the study in order to determine whether
mindfulness has a unique relationship with emotion
regulation, beyond the expected shared relationship with
symptoms of distress. Therefore, we hypothesized that
mindfulness would be correlated with emotion regulation.
Furthermore, we hypothesized that mindfulness would
uniquely predict emotion regulation, beyond the anticipated
shared relationship with symptoms of distress.
METHODS
A total of 404 (141 male, 254 female) undergraduate
students from a large, urban university completed
questionnaire packets as part of a larger study. Participants
ranged in age from 18 to 67, with a mean age of 23.16 years
(SD = 7.186). The racial backgrounds identified by
participants were as follows: 18.8% Asian/Pacific Islander,
13.1% African American/Black, 7.7% Hispanic, 6.2%
multiracial, 4% other, 2.7% Middle Eastern, and 0.7% Native
American.
Measures
The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-
21: Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) is composed of three scales:
depression, anxiety, and stress. Each scale consists of seven
items, which are rated on a four-point Likert-type scale.
The Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS:
Gratz & Roemer, 2004) contains 36 items, measured on a five-
point Likert-type scale, that assess six facets of difficulties in
regulating emotion: nonacceptance of emotional responses
(accept), difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior (when
upset; goals), impulse control difficulties (when upset;
impulse), lack of emotional awareness (aware), limited access
to effective emotion regulation strategies (strategies), and lack
of emotional clarity (clarity). In this study, we used the
overall score as well as the goals, impulse control, and
strategies subscales, as these subscales do not conceptually
overlap with definitions of mindfulness, whereas the other
three (accept, aware, and clarity) do.
The Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale (MAAS:
Brown & Ryan, 2003) is a 15-item questionnaire that assesses
a single factor, present attention and awareness. The items are
rated on a six-point Likert-type scale.
The Self-Compassion Scale (SCS: Neff, 2003) was
included to assess the nonjudgmental, compassionate aspect of
mindfulness, which is not directly captured by the MAAS. It
contains 26 items, rated on a five-point Likert-type scale. It
includes six subscales: self-kindness, common humanity,
mindfulness, over-identification, self-judgment, and isolation.
The self-kindness subscale was used in this study as a measure
of accepting responses to one’s experiences.
RESULTS
Zero-order correlations were conducted to examine
the relationship between emotion regulation and mindfulness
variables. Analyses revealed significant intercorrelations
between these variables (see Table 1).
Table 1. Intercorrelations between mindfulness and emotion
regulation scores
DERS total Goals Impulsivity Strategies
MAAS -.48* -.36* -.39* -.39*
SCS kindness -.37* -.19* -.26* -.32*
A series of hierarchical regressions were conducted
in order to determine if mindfulness and self-compassion
predicted emotion regulation, beyond variance accounted for
by symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress (see table 2).

Table 2. Summary of last step of regression equations
predicting DERS scores, with DASS scales in the first step
Outcome R2Δ Mindfulness Self-
variable (MAAS) β kindness
(SCS) β
DERS total .06* -.17* -.22*
Goal .02* -.15* -.09*
Impulse .03* -.11* -.14*
Strategies .02* -.04 -.15*
*p < .05
The first regression analysis examined the ability of
mindfulness and self-compassion scores to predict total
emotion dysregulation scores. The overall model was
significant (Adj R2 = .52, F[5,403] = 88.12, p < .001). The
DASS scales significantly predicted emotion dysregulation
total scores (R2Δ = .46, FΔ = 114.39, p < .001). Mindfulness
and self-compassion scores significantly predicted emotion
dysregulation, over and above the variance accounted for by
stress, depression, and anxiety (R2Δ = .06, FΔ = 26.68, p <
.001). In addition, mindfulness and self-compassion scores
each emerged as significant unique predictors of emotion
dysregulation scores (β = -.17, t = -4.26, p < .001;β = -.22, t =
-5.98, p < .001).
The remaining regressions were also conducted with the
DASS scales entered in the first step, and the MAAS and self-
kindness subscale of the SCS entered in the second step;
however each utilized a different subscale of the DERS as the
dependent variable, in order to assess the relationship of
mindfulness to an aspect of emotion regulation with less
conceptual overlap. The overall model predicting difficulties
engaging in goal directed behavior was significant (Adj R2 =
.24, F[5,403] = 26.26, p < .001) as was the overall model
predicting difficulties with impulse control (Adj R2 = .36,
F[5,403] = 46.47, p < .001) and limited access to emotion
regulation strategies (Adj R2 = .50, F[5,403] = 80.32, p <
.001). For all three regressions, the mindfulness measures
significantly improved the model, although for strategies, only
kindness emerged as a significant unique predictor in the final
step (See Table 2 for relevant statistics from the last step of
each regression.
DISCUSSION
The zero-order correlations revealed significant
associations between scores on emotion regulation, distress,
mindfulness, and self-compassion. A series of regressions
were conducted to determine whether these relationships
remained when shared variance associated with symptoms was
accounted for and when elements of emotion regulation that
overlap conceptually with aspects of mindfulness were
removed. These revealed that mindfulness (both
awareness/attention and self-compassion/kindness) showed
significant unique relationships with emotion regulation
overall as well as with impulse control and goal attainment
difficulties when distressed. Self-compassion/kindness showed
a unique relationship with limited access to regulation
strategies as well.
Emotion dysregulation may underlie a variety of
psychological difficulties and may also interfere with
2
individual’s functioning across important domains of their
lives (such as work and relationships). Therefore, these results
indicate the potential benefit of incorporating mindfulness
skills in treatments aimed at alleviating problems related to
emotion dysregulation. This preliminary study suggests that
both awareness and self-compassion/kindness may facilitate
the development of adaptive emotion regulation.
While these results are encouraging, there are several
limitations to be considered. The difficulty in measuring
mindfulness is exemplified by the use of two different
questionnaires in order to adequately capture this construct,
and may limit the conclusions that can be drawn from this
study. Furthermore, the use of self-report questionnaires has
inherent limitations, which could be addressed by
incorporating multiple methods of measurement (e.g.,
behavioral and physiological measures) in future research.
Also, this examination of correlational relationships in a cross-
sectional design does not test the proposed causal relationship
between mindfulness and emotion regulation. Finally, while
these participants are more diverse than many undergraduate
samples, further research should employ a broader sample to
increase generalizability and also specifically examine the
potential moderating effects of sociocultural variables such as
gender, race, ethnicity and social class.
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