Committee Chair

Howell, Ashley N.

Committee Member

Walker, Ruth; Clark, Amanda J.

Department

Dept. of Psychology

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Mindfulness and worry have some antithetical qualities, yet mixed or non-significant findings suggest that practicing mindfulness alone will not disrupt worry. Working memory capacity (WMC) has been implicated in the relationship between worry and mindfulness, with some research showing that the combined practice of mindfulness and WMC test exercises had the greatest impact on reducing worry. 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. Worry was shown to be negatively associated with mindfulness. All WM scores showed non-significant associations apart from a weak positive association between verbal WM efficiency and behavioral mindfulness. Both domains of WM predicted similar outcomes in mindfulness. Mindfulness was not shown to moderate the relationship between worry and WMC. Implications and future directions for research are discussed.

Acknowledgments

Thank you to my committee members Dr. Clark and Dr. Walker for their patience and advice in helping me to improve my thesis. Thank you to the UTC Psychology department for building a culture that gave me grace during my time of need. Special thanks to Dr. Howell for all the guidance and commitment they have shown me as a mentor.

Degree

M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science.

Date

8-2023

Subject

Worry; Mindfulness (Psychology); Short-term memory

Keyword

mindfulness; worry; working memory; working memory capacity

Discipline

Psychology

Document Type

Masters theses

DCMI Type

Text

Extent

x, 110 leaves

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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