Abstract
The aim of the study was to explore the link between perceived parenting and later psychological wellbeing by considering the potential mediators of mindfulness and self-compassion. Trait mindfulness and self-compassion have both been shown to be linked to wellbeing and perceived parenting, as such, it is timely to explore these as the potential mediators. It was proposed that the quality of parenting received, in particular parental care and parental overprotection as measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument (Parker et al. , 1979), is associated with psychological wellbeing later in life, that of depression and anxiety symptoms and quality of life, through the influence that parenting has on the child’s developing mindfulness skills and their ability to be self-compassionate. The different facets identified within mindfulness were explored as potential mediators, these being ‘observing’, ‘describing’, ‘acting with awareness’, ‘accepting without judgement’ and believability in negative thoughts and the related construct of self-compassion. Participants were 409 undergraduate students, who completed measures of perceived parenting, mindfulness and self-compassion, depression and anxiety symptoms and quality of life. Mediation analysis demonstrated that ‘acting with awareness’, believability in negative thoughts and self-compassion were significant and unique mediators for the relationship between both parental care and parental overprotection, on the one hand, and depression and anxiety symptoms and quality of life on the other. Additionally, the mindfulness skill of ‘describing’ was a significant unique mediator of the relationship between parental care and overprotection and quality of life. The mindfulness facets of‘observing’ and ‘accepting without judgement’ were not found to be unique significant mediators. These novel findings have implications in developing the focus of clinical interventions on the specific facets of mindfulness that were found to be unique significant mediators when working with those who are experiencing poor psychological wellbeing and who also report a poor bond with their parents.