LAUSR

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major disruption, loss, and uncertainty for individuals throughout the world, including emerging adults Recent work has revealed the profound psychological impact of the pandemic, with significant increases in rates of anxiety and depression Mindfulness, the act of being present in the moment, has been shown to improve mental health outcomes among emerging adults Therefore, it is critical to assess whether engaging in mindfulness can buffer against the impact of the pandemic on mental health in emerging adulthood Methods: The current project explores the hypothesis that mindfulness use mediates the relationships between the COVID-19 impact and anxiety and depression among emerging adults Participants for this IRB-approved study were recruited via online flyers in the United States They completed a series of online questionnaires, including the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item, Patient Health Questionnaire 9-Item, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, and Likert-type items assessing COVID-19 impact Analyses were conducted using SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 4) Results: In the first analysis for anxiety (N = 309;Mage = 20 9 years;79 9% female, 9 1% Hispanic), the overall model was significant (F2,306 = 36 19;p < 0 001;R2 = 0 44) The paths from COVID-19 impact to mindfulness (b = –0 08;p = 0 019) and mindfulness to anxiety (b = –1 9;p < 0 001), along with the direct path from COVID-19 impact to anxiety, were all significant (b = 0 62;p < 0 001), indicating partial mediation In the second analysis focusing on depression (N = 303;Mage = 20 8 years;78 8% female, 8 6% Hispanic), the overall model was significant (F2,300 = 51 43;p < 0 001;R2 = 0 51) The paths from COVID-19 impact to mindfulness (b = –0 08;p = 0 013) and mindfulness to depression (b = –2 7;p < 0 001), along with the direct path from COVID-19 impact to depression, were significant (b = 0 48;p = 0 003), indicating partial mediation Conclusions: These findings further extend the literature demonstrating the beneficial effect of mindfulness on reducing poor mental health outcomes This suggests that mindfulness is beneficial to emerging adults during the COVID-19 pandemic Preventive intervention efforts aimed at addressing anxiety and depression during a pandemic should incorporate strategies to enhance an individual’s mindfulness DDD, AD, COPI