The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that William Farmer will present Master’s research titled, Assessing Mindfulness as a Moderator between Trait Worry and Working Memory Capacity Performance among Undergraduates on 03\/24\/2023 at 10:00AM in Room 357 in 540 McCallie (CSOB). Everyone is invited to attend.
Psychology
Chair: Amanda Clark
Co-Chair: Ruth Walker
Abstract:
Worry represents the cognitive behavioral component of anxiety and is often reported as a symptom of stress and depression. While mindfulness and worry have some antithetical qualities, mixed or non-significant findings suggest that practicing mindfulness alone will not disrupt worry. Past research findings suggest that certain cognitive variables may play a role in this relationship, with some promising results found for working memory capacity (WMC). Mindfulness practice has been found to be associated with improved WMC, whereas worry has been shown to be associated with reduced WMC. Some research has found the combined practice of mindfulness and WMC test exercises to have the greatest impact on reducing worry, suggesting that mindfulness may represent a moderating influence in the relationship between worry and WMC. The present study sought to test the relationship between worry, trait mindfulness, behavioral mindfulness as assessed by a Mindfulness Activities Questionnaire (MAQ) created by the researcher, and both the verbal and Visuospatial domains of WMC. Results indicated that only worry and trait mindfulness were correlated r = -.42. Psychometrics for the MAQ yielded suitability for factor analysis, with expected factor loadings partially obtained. Split-half reliability and convergent validity for the MAQ were supported. Multiple regressions controlling for worry revealed no unique variance explained by either domain of working memory capacity toward trait or behavioral mindfulness. Moderation analyses revealed no significant interaction between worry and both types of mindfulness on both domains of WMC, however a medium effect size was found for the trait mindfulness and Visuospatial WMC moderation model R^2 = .07, and small effect sizes for the others. Implications of the results and future directions for research on these variables are discussed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The UTC Graduate School is pleased to announce that William Farmer will present Master’s research titled, Assessing Mindfulness as a Moderator between Trait Worry and Working Memory Capacity Performance among Undergraduates on 03\/24\/2023 at 10:00AM in Room 357 in 540 McCallie (CSOB). Everyone is invited to attend. Psychology Chair: Amanda Clark Co-Chair: Ruth Walker Abstract: Worry represents the cognitive behavioral component of… <\/p>\n