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The Korean Journal of Health Psychology

  • KOREAN
  • P-ISSN1229-070X
  • E-ISSN2713-9581
  • KCI

The Effects of Mindfulness and Compassion on Interpersonal Relationships: The Mediating Roles of Emotion Regulation and Social Connectedness

The Korean Journal of Health Psychology / The Korean Journal of Health Psychology, (P)1229-070X; (E)2713-9581
2019, v.24 no.4, pp.969-992
https://doi.org/10.17315/kjhp.2019.24.4.010


Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of mindfulness and compassion on interpersonal relationships, and mediating roles of emotion regulation and social connectedness. Structural equation modeling involving 382 undergraduate students was conducted. Findings suggest that mindfulness contributed to interpersonal relationships directly as well as indirectly via its impacts on emotion regulation and social connectedness. That is, mindfulness was shown to directly improve interpersonal relationships, but it was also shown to increase emotion regulation capacity and social connectedness, which enhanced interpersonal relationships. As for compassion, the results support a full mediation by social connectedness, indicating that compassion alters a person’s perspective on the social world for the better, positively affecting interpersonal relationships. Finally, the implications and limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

keywords
마음챙김, 자비심, 대인관계, 정서조절, 사회적 연결감, mindfulness, compassion, interpersonal relationships, emotion regulation, social connectedness

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