The Role of Psychological Inflexibility and Mindfulness in Somatization, Depression, and Anxiety among Non- clinical Asian Americans Amar Mandavia, B.S. Akihiko Masuda, Ph.D. Erin Tully, Ph.D. Georgia State University

Presentation Summary  Background and basis of study  Methods  Results  Discussion  Future Directions  Questions

Introduction  IV: Psychological inflexibility and mindfulness  DV: Psychological Distress (i.e. Depression, Anxiety, & Somatization)  Population: Non-clinical Asian American sample

Psychological Inflexibility  The rigid dominance of psychological reaction over chosen values and contingencies in guiding actions  Associated with a wide range of internalizing problems (i.e. Psychological distress) Experiential Avoidance Cognitive Fusion Inflexible Attention Disruption of Values Inaction or Avoidant Persistence Attachment to the Conceptualized Self Psychological Inflexibility

Mindfulness  Awareness and attention to the present events and experiences through a non-judgmental perspective  Inversely associated with a wide range of internalizing problems

Asian Americans  Mainstream factors  Reduced social support  Poor coping skills  Culture specific factors  Acculturation distress  “model minorities”  Vulnerable to psychological distress  Role of regulation process & behaviors

Present Study

Methods  Participants  116 Asian American College students (25% Indian, 19% Korean, 15% Chinese,13% Vietnamese, 6% Cambodian, 5% Pakistani, 3% Filipino, & 14% Others)  M Age = (SD= 2.72)  Female = 78, Male = 38  Procedure  Anonymous web-based survey

Measures  Psychological Distress  The Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18)- designed to screen for depressive, anxious, and somatic symptoms  Psychological Inflexibility  Acceptance and Action Questionnaire- II (AAQ-II) - designed to assess unwillingness to experience and interference of undesirable thoughts and feelings  Mindfulness  The Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)- designed to assess the frequency of mindlessness over time

Analysis  Using a model that accounts for shared variance among internalization problems  Path analysis model using Mplus  Psychological Inflexibility and mindfulness as predictors  Depression, anxiety and somatization as outcome variables

Results Mindfulness Psychological Inflexibility Age Gender Depression Anxiety Somatization -.16 (.08)* Notes. Estimate (Standard error) * p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p < (.08)**.64 (.07 )***.75 (.07 )*** -.18 (.09)*.53 (.07)***.42 (.08)***.27 (.09)**.03 (.08).09 (.08).03 (.09) -.16 (.08) * -.05 (.08) -.12 (.09).86 (.06 )***.59 (.06)***.67 (.05)***

Results Somatization (BSI-18 Somatization)-- 2. Depression (BSI-18 Depression).65**-- 3. Anxiety (BSI-18 Anxiety).72**.76**-- 4. Psychological Inflexibility (AAQ-II).29**.55**.46**-- 5. Mindfulness (MAAS)-.25**-30**-.29**-.25**-- 6. Age *-- 7. Gender M SD Α Means, Standard Deviations, Coefficient Alphas, and Zero-Order Relations between all Variables Note: N = 116, *p <.05, **p <.01

Discussion ≈ Psychological Inflexibility Psychological Distress ≈ Mindfulness Psychological Distress

Discussion cont.  Role of internal cues in understanding psychological adjustment  Transdiagnostic nature of Mindfulness and psychological inflexibility linked to psychological distresses

Future Directions  Mindfulness and psychological inflexibility as moderators between mainstream and culture- specific risk factors for Asian Americans  Future research that incorporates more specific information about the participants' cultural factors  Acculturation levels & stresses  Being foreign born vs. U.S. born  Number of family generations in the U.S.

Limitations  Non-clinical sample  Self-report measures  College students  Limited external validity  Concepts not fully captured by measures

Questions

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