(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-10-13)
Mirabito, Grazia
Racism is still a very pervasive problem in our nation. The literature on racism and race-related stress has predominately focused on African American populations, which is not surprising since they experience a disproportional amount of discrimination compared to other ethnicities. Nevertheless, due to the different lived experiences with racism and discrimination for each minority, I believe it is important to assess multiple racial groups’ experiences with racism (e.g. African American, Asian American, and Latinx persons). Racism can lead to race-related stress and thus to significant detriments in mental and physical health outcomes in People of Color (POC). This study took a novel and exploratory approach to understanding whether mindfulness, coping, and ethnic identity can buffer against the effects of race-related stress. Using a single-point-in-time online survey amongst 676 Asian American, African American, and Latinx participants measuring trait mindfulness, coping, ethnic identity, frequency of exposure to racism, rumination, race-related stress, anxiety, well-being, depression, and demographic factors (i.e., age, gender, education, income, and personality). Using multigroup structural equation modeling, I investigated whether mindfulness, coping, and ethnic identity mitigated the effects of race-related stress on rumination and psychological outcomes amongst POC. I found that at high levels of ethnic identity and some mindfulness subscales, there was greater use of adaptive coping skills, reduced race-related stress and rumination, and improved psychological outcomes. Additionally, I found that at high levels of exposure to racism, the cascade from mindfulness to race-related stress to psychological outcomes was worsened. Results were promising concerning the protective effects of most mindfulness subscales and ethnic identity against race-related stress. These variables exerted their influence primarily through the mediator coping. There were also negative effects of exposure to racism on the psychological outcomes. The only mindfulness variables that had a negative impact were Nonjudgement (in the African American sample only) and Observing, where Nonjudgement’s effect is most likely caused by personality, age, or some unmeasured variable, while the effects of Observing are most likely caused by detrimental effects of monitoring without acceptance. Furthermore, many of these pathways (58 out of 64 pathways) do not vary by ethnicity suggesting a primarily universal relationship across groups. The present study was successful in collecting a large sample of POC to compare across group differences and demonstrated that many of these mindfulness, ethnic identity, coping, and race-related stress processes exist similarly across multiple ethnic groups.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-07-26)
Mirabito, Grazia
Stress and related issues of anxiety disorder and depression pose huge mental and public health risks in the population in general, and on college campuses in particular. Prior research shows that mindfulness interventions help to relieve symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as decrease rumination, and increase sleep and exercise behaviors. Yet, the causal mechanisms of these variables and the sequencing of effects are unknown. I utilized a randomized controlled trial, 55 in control arm, and 57 in intervention arm (mean age= 21.39), using a 4-week KORU mindfulness intervention as the intervention arm, with pretest and posttest assessment of the relevant variables, as well as daily ecological momentary assessments (EMA) of formal and informal mindfulness practices, state mindfulness, rumination, sleep, exercise, mood, wellbeing, and stress. In the pre-post analysis, Koru was effective in improving mindfulness, rumination, worry, mood, stress, anxiety, three aspects of psychological wellbeing (Autonomy, Environmental Mastery, and Self-acceptance), and physical activity. In the EMA analysis, Koru was effective in improving mindfulness (i.e., Curiosity and Decentering), rumination, and sleep. Rumination was found to be a significant mediator between both mindfulness subscales and psychological outcomes. Furthermore, the effect of Curiosity on rumination was significant with a lag of up to three days; the effect of Decentering was detectable over two days. The effects of rumination on stressor count, depression, and wellbeing, however, did not extend beyond the same day. Exercise was only a significant mediator in the pathways from Curiosity to depression and well-being and did not extend beyond the same day. Sleep was not a significant mediator for any mindfulness to outcome variable pathway. Lastly, self-reported practice quality, both formal and informal, did not drive changes in mindfulness and did not attribute to changes in the pathway proposed.