The Relationship Between Mindfulness And Depressive Symptoms In Vocational Students

Depression is one of the psychological problems commonly faced by vocational school students,which seriously threatens their physical and mental health.Mindfulness as a positive psychological quality,can effectively prevent the occurrence of depressive symptoms and help to improve the depressive symptoms.However,how mindfulness and its training affect the depressive symptoms of secondary vocational school students needs further study.Therefore,this study used 2 studies to explore the effect of mindfulness and its training on depression symptoms of secondary vocational school students and the role of affect spin in it.Study 1 explored the relationship between mindfulness,affect spin and depression symptoms of secondary vocational school students through longitudinal and phased measurement.122 secondary vocational school students were measured with five factor mindfulness scale,core affect state scale and self rating depression scale.The results showed that:(1)The detection rate of secondary vocational students with depressive symptoms was as high as62.30%,including 27.87% of mild depression,31.15% of moderate depression and 3.28% of severe depression.(2)Mindfulness and its dimensions of conscious action and non judgment were negatively correlated with affect spin;Mindfulness and its dimensions of observation,description and conscious action were negatively correlated with depressive symptoms;affect spin was positively correlated with depressive symptoms.(3)Mindfulness(acting with awareness)has a negative predictive effect on depression symptoms of secondary vocational school students,and affect spin plays a partial intermediary role between mindfulness(acting with awareness)and depression symptoms.Study 2 through 2(mindfulness: training group,control group)× 2(test time: pretest and postest).52 secondary vocational school students were given short-term Mindfulness-based Self-help training(MBSH)for five days.At the same time,heart rate variability and skin electrical response levels were collected,and real-time facial expression recognition was carried out.The effects of mindfulness training on the mindfulness level,affect spin and depressive symptoms of secondary vocational school students were discussed from the three levels of subjective report,physiology and behavior indicators.The results showed that:(1)Compared with the control group,the level of mindfulness of vocational students in the training group was significantly improved;(2)Compared with the control group,the depression level of vocational students in the training group was significantly lower;(3)Compared with the control group,the self-reported affect spin level of vocational students in the training group was significantly lower;However,there was no significant difference in the level of affect spin recorded objectively;(4)Compared with the control group,the heart rate variability of vocational students in the training group was significantly increased,and the level of skin conductance was significantly improved.To sum up,the research shows that affect spin plays a partial mediating role in the influence of mindfulness(acting with awareness)on depression symptoms of secondary vocational school students.At the same time,short-term MBSH training for five consecutive days can effectively improve the level of mindfulness of secondary vocational school students,reduce their affect spin level,and then alleviate their depressive symptoms.In addition,heart rate variability and skin conductance can be used as effective physiological indicators to reflect the level of mindfulness and depression of secondary vocational school students,but the effectiveness of affect spin that can be objectively recorded through facial expression recognition needs further investigation.