The aim of the study was to examine effects of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) programme on sport-specific dispositional mindfulness, sport anxiety, and experiential acceptance, compared to an inactive control group, in a population of Martial Arts (MA) athletes. Twenty-three MA athletes were subjected to the MAC intervention, and 22 MA athletes comprised the control group. To analyse potential differences in the outcome variables between the two groups, Bayesian repeated measures analysis of variance (RM-ANOVA) was used. Findings showed that the MAC-group had greater increases over time in the sport-specific mindfulness subscales awareness and acceptance and acceptance, compared to the control group. In contrast, no interaction effects were found for present moment attention (AMQ), experiential acceptance (BEAQ), and sport anxiety (SAS-2). Overall, the present study adds further information and understanding about the effectiveness and implementation of the MAC programme.

This paper draws on findings from an ongoing research project called ”Effects of a multi-module intervention designed to increase critical thinking and the ability to identify misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories in high school students”. The aim of this project is to empirically evaluate an educational intervention consisting of six one-hour sessions. The sessions include traditional lectures regarding critical thinking, misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories but also includes a game (Bad news), and group discussions, all designed to train high school students in critical thinking as well as the capacity to identify disinformation and conspiracy theories. The project combines competences from media and communication studies, psychology, political science, and data communication, and the intervention has so far been implemented in  three Swedish high schools. In the paper we discuss preliminary findings and experiences drawn from the first phase of the project. We will also discuss the applicability of the intervention, and challenges that we have identified. © Author/s

The aim of the study was to examine the temporal relationship between facets of sport-specific dispositional mindfulness (i e., Awareness, Refocusing, Nonjudgemental attitude) and shooting performance in actual competitions, in a population of 25 elite biathlon athletes. Findings indicated that mindfulness facets were positively associated with shooting performance, with higher levels of Awareness, Refocusing, and Awareness being related to better shooting performance in competitions. In spite of the fact that the explained variance was quite small, even a minor shooting performance enhancement may increase an athlete’s chance of winning a biathlon competition. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The main aim of this study was to investigate if exercisers’ personality characteristics were associated with exercise dependence. Specifically, the purpose was to examine if anxiety, obsessive passion, and physical appearance orientation were associated to an increased risk for exercise dependence. Participants were 330 exercisers from exercise groups, sport clubs and university sport science classes in the southwest of Sweden. Data were analysed using CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detection) analysis. The CHAID analysis indicated that anxiety was the main predictor of exercise dependence. More specifically, 12.7% more exercisers who experienced high levels of anxiety symptoms (i.e. scores above 6), were, in comparison to the exercises experiencing low levels of anxiety, classified as “at risk for exercise dependence”. For exercisers that reported low levels of anxiety symptoms (i.e. scores below 7), obsessive passion for exercise was a positive statistically significant predictor (absolute risk difference = 8.6%). Overall, the results highlight anxiety as a main risk factor behind exercise dependence. Also, the risk of exercise dependence may increase either from obsessive passion or as a coping strategy for anxiety. Furthermore, results may illustrate two types of exercise dependence; “primary” exercise dependence driven mainly by an obsessive passion for exercise and “secondary” exercise dependence where exercise function as a strategy to cope with anxiety. © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

The aim of this article was to describe the implementation of a team-based MAC intervention, and discuss important aspects to consider when implementing the MAC protocol in elite team sports. The MAC program contains seven modules in which core concepts such as mindfulness, acceptance, and values-driven behavior are being taught and practiced. We experienced conceptual as well as practical challenges in the application of the MAC protocol. A general recommendation in implementing MAC concepts and exercises for teams is to make the content of the program sport-specific.  © 2019, Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. © 2019, © Torbjörn Josefsson, Rasmus Tornberg, Henrik Gustafsson, and Andreas Ivarsson.

Objectives

The aim of the study was to examine mediating effects of emotion regulation and sport-specific dispositional mindfulness on self-rated athletic training performance, following the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) intervention, compared to a Psychological Skills Training (PST) control group.

Methods

Sixty-nine competitive elite athletes who did not have any prior experience with mindfulness- and acceptance-based exercises, were recruited and randomly assigned into either a MAC group or a traditional PST group. Latent growth curve analyses were performed to examine longitudinal relationships among the study variables. Mediation analyses were conducted to test if the growth trajectory of each of the proposed mediators mediated the relationship between the intervention and perceived performance (measured at T3).

Results

Findings showed that the MAC intervention had an indirect effect on self-rated athletic training performance through changes in dispositional mindfulness and emotion regulation respectively. Further, the MAC-group obtained greater post-test improvements in athletic mindfulness, emotion regulation abilities, and perceived performance compared to the PST group.

Conclusions

Overall, findings suggest that dispositional athletic mindfulness and emotion regulation may function as important mechanisms in MAC, and that the MAC approach is a more effective intervention compared to the PST condition in reducing emotion regulation difficulties, as well as enhancing sport-relevant mindfulness skills and perceived athletic training performance in elite sport.

The main objective of the project was to examine a proposed theoretical model of mindfulness mechanisms in sports. We conducted two studies (the first study using a cross-sectional design and the second a longitudinal design) to investigate if rumination and emotion regulation mediate the relation between dispositional mindfulness and sport-specific coping. Two hundred and forty-two young elite athletes, drawn from various sports, were recruited for the cross-sectional study. For the longitudinal study, 65 elite athletes were recruited. All analyses were performed using Bayesian statistics. The path analyses showed credible indirect effects of dispositional mindfulness on coping via rumination and emotion regulation in both the cross-sectional study and the longitudinal study. Additionally, the results in both studies showed credible direct effects of dispositional mindfulness on rumination and emotion regulation. Further, credible direct effects of emotion regulation as well as rumination on coping were also found in both studies. Our findings support the theoretical model, indicating that rumination and emotion regulation function as essential mechanisms in the relation between dispositional mindfulness and sport-specific coping skills. Increased dispositional mindfulness in competitive athletes (i.e. by practicing mindfulness) may lead to reductions in rumination, as well as an improved capacity to regulate negative emotions. By doing so, athletes may improve their sport-related coping skills, and thereby enhance athletic performance. © The Author(s) 2017.

Regular physical exercise/activity has been shown repeatedly to promote positive benefits in cognitive, emotional and motor domains concomitant with reductions in distress and negative affect. It exerts a preventative role in anxiety and depressive states and facilitates psychological well-being in both adolescents and adults. Not least, several meta-analyses attest to improvements brought about by exercise. In the present treatise, the beneficial effects of exercise upon cognitive, executive function and working memory, emotional, self-esteem and depressed mood, motivational, anhedonia and psychomotor retardation, and somatic/physical, sleep disturbances and chronic aches and pains, categories of depression are discussed. Concurrently, the amelioration of several biomarkers associated with depressive states: hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis homeostasis, anti-neurodegenerative effects, monoamine metabolism regulation and neuroimmune functioning. The notion that physical exercise may function as "scaffolding" that buttresses available network circuits, anti-inflammatory defences and neuroreparative processes, e.g. brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), holds a certain appeal. © 2014 Bentham Science Publishers.

The majority of mindfulness intervention studies do not include active control groups. To examine potential unique effects of mindfulness practice and to study the mechanism responsible for beneficial mental health effects associated with mindfulness-based interventions, the present study compared mindfulness meditation with an active control group in a randomised controlled trial. A short-term mindfulness-based intervention (n = 46) was compared with both an active control group—relaxation training (n = 40)—and an inactive wait-list group (n = 40) on self-reported mindfulness and decentering, executive attention, psychological well-being, anxiety, depression, and coping style, in an adult working population with no prior meditation experience. Analyses of covariance showed that the mindfulness group scored higher than the wait-list group on self-reported mindfulness and psychological well-being. However, no differences were found on decentering, anxiety, depression, executive attention, or coping style. Moreover, the study failed to distinguish any unique mindfulness effects since there were no differences between mindfulness and relaxation on any of the variables. Simple mediation analyses, using a bootstrap approach, revealed that decentering acted as a mediator between self-reported mindfulness and psychological well-being. The length of the intervention, the similarities between body scan exercises in MBI and relaxation, and the absence of decentering effects may partly explain the lack of distinct MBI effects, suggesting that MBIs aimed at increasing well-being and problem-focused coping whilst reducing psychological symptoms in a working population should be longer than merely 4 weeks and include more than seven sessions. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

The current research project consists of three separate studies. The general aim of this project was to contribute to previous mindfulness research by exploring fundamental aspects of mindfulness in an effort to increase the understanding of mindfulness as a construct as well as its mechanisms. The purpose of the study I was to investigate the relation between mindfulness and sustained and executive attention by comparing Buddhist and Western mindfulness meditators (n = 47) and non-meditators (n = 45) in performance on computerized attention. The main purpose of study II was to compare these meditators and non-meditators on self-reported mindfulness, and also to investigate whether facets of mindfulness mediate the relation between meditation experience and psychological well-being. Study III aimed at investigating the unique effects of mindfulness practice as well as the proposed mindfulness mechanism; decentering. A short-term mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) (n = 46) was compared with relaxation training (n = 40) and a waiting-list group (n = 40) on a battery of tests - executive attention, self-reported mindfulness, decentering, psychological well-being, anxiety, depression, and coping styles – in 126 employees with no prior meditation experience. The results showed no significant differences between meditators and non-meditators either in sustained or executive attention. Meditators rated themselves higher than non-meditators on four of the five facets of mindfulness. The multiple mediation analysis showed that the five mindfulness facets mediated the relationship between meditation experience and psychological well-being but no single facet contributed significantly. Simple mediation analyses indicated, however, that Non-React was the primary mediator. No unique mindfulness effects were found since there were no differences between mindfulness and relaxation in any of the variables. However, the mindfulness group scored higher than the waiting-list group on the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire total scale and psychological wellbeing. Meditators may have an increased awareness of internal processes and the ability to quickly attend to them, but this type of refined attentional ability does not seem to be related to performance on attention tests requiring quick responses to external targets. It may be concluded that effects on attention regulation are of less importance compared to other beneficial psychological and physiological health outcomes due to mindfulness meditation. Mediation analyses supported (i) the notion that meditation experience is related to increased mindfulness, which in turn is associated with improved psychological well-being, and (ii) the idea that increases in mindfulness lead to increased decentering abilities which in turn leads to improved psychological well-being. Possible explanations for the absence of unique group differences between mindfulness and relaxation are that the length of the intervention was too short and the sessions too few, similarities between body exercises in MBI and relaxation, and the lack of group differences on decentering. Investigating unique mindfulness effects to distinguish mindfulness effects from relaxation should be prioritized in future studies. The promising theory of mechanisms proposed in the Buddhist Psychological Model (BPM) needs to be empirically evaluated. MBI-related changes in selfperceptions, value systems, and ethical aspects may play a more important role for improved psychological health than what has previously been recognized. Other Buddhist practices such as loving-kindness meditation and compassion meditation also need to be examined. Finally, an in-depth dialogue between Western researchers, expert meditators, and Buddhist theoreticians may be increasingly important for mindfulness research to advance.