Mindfulness and Perceptions of Stress as a Parent: A Look into the Five Facets of Mindfulness

Abstract

Mindfulness has been regarded as highly effective in the prediction and reduction of stress in a variety of populations. The integration of mindfulness into a parenting framework has been of special interest as new parents are exposed to a variety of stressors. It is thus important to examine factors predictive of decreased parental stress. Mindfulness is broken down into measurable facets by the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) which is a validated self-report questionnaire for measuring dispositional mindfulness. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the five facets of mindfulness predicted parental stress, as reported by the Parental Stress Scales (PSS), in a sample of 87 mothers of healthy 12-week-old infants. Multiple regression analyses revealed that the non-judgement of inner experience facet of mindfulness significantly predicted parental stress. The facets of mindfulness and the role of non-judgement in the appraisal of parental stress are discussed alongside future directions for research.