From Perceiving to Believing
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
MINDFULNESS AND SELF-EFFICACY IN A
UNIVERSITY STUDENT POPULATION
Rebecca Harth, Bill Lovegrove and Steven Roodenrys
University of Wollongong
Overview
Mindfulness
Trait mindfulness
(FFMQ)
Self-efficacy
General self-efficacy
Coping self-efficacy
Learning self-efficacy
Mindfulness selfefficacy
Paying attention on
purpose, in the present
moment, and nonjudgementally
(Kabat-Zinn, 2003)
Why self-efficacy?
Why self-efficacy?
 Literature associates low self-efficacy in university students
with
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lower grades (Multon, Brown & Lent, 1991)
Increased procrastination (Klassen, Krawchuk & Rajani, 2008)
Poor social problem-solving (Brown et al., 2012)
Depression (Jalilian et al., 2012)
 Self-efficacy generally predicts behaviour better than similar
concepts (e.g., self-concept, locus of control, outcome beliefs;
Dellinger et al., 2008).
 Once established through experiences, self-efficacy beliefs
resist change (Bandura, 1997). However, change in selfefficacy beliefs may occur through
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Transformative experiences
Shared sub-skills: improvement in skills in one self-efficacy domain that
also apply to another domain.
Why mindfulness?
Teaching
HIV
management
Pain
management
Counselling
General
Mindfulness
interventions
Exercise
Coping
Verbal
fluency
Mothering
(Perez-Blasco, Viguer & Rodrigo, 2013; Miller, 2011; Cusens et al., 2010; de Veer et al., 2009; Meiklejohn et al., 2012, Gilbert & Waltz, 2010; Greason & Cashwell, 2009; Luberto et al., 2013).
Research Questions
What is the relationship between measures of
attributional mindfulness and three domains of
self-efficacy in a university student population?
1.
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General self-efficacy
Coping self-efficacy
Learning self-efficacy
2. Does mindfulness self-efficacy mediate
relationships between mindfulness and selfefficacy?

Is it worthy of further investigation as a mechanism?
Why “mindfulness self-efficacy”?
Mindfulness
training
Improved
mindfulness
self-efficacy?
Improved
self-efficacy
outcomes
Hypotheses
 H1: Positive correlations will be found between a
measure of trait mindfulness and each of the three
measures of self-efficacy.
 H2: Mindfulness self-efficacy will act as a mediator
for each relationship.
Design and methodology
208 university students
Online survey (5
questionnaires)
Correlational analysis
(Hypothesis 1)
Bootstrapped mediation
analysis (Hypothesis 2)
Measures
Mindfulness
Five-Facet Mindfulness
Questionnaire (FFMQ)
Self-efficacy
General Self Efficacy scale
(GSE)
Coping Self Efficacy scale
(CSE)
Self Efficacy for Learning
Form – Abridged (SELF-A)
Mindfulness Self Efficacy
Scale - Revised (MSES-R)
Results: H1
Results: H2
Bootstrapped mediation
analysis found:
 General self-efficacy
 Partial mediation
(30% of variance predicted
by mindfulness and
mindfulness self-efficacy)
 Coping self-efficacy
 Partial mediation
(48% of variance predicted
by mindfulness and
mindfulness self-efficacy)
 Learning self-efficacy
 Non-significant effect
Implications
 Relationships between mindfulness and different
forms of self-efficacy in university students are
worthy of further exploration.
 The role of mindfulness self-efficacy as a mediator is
worthy of further exploration.
Further questions and research directions
 Investigate co-variance of multiple forms of self-
efficacy with mindfulness training using an active
control group to establish causality.
 Investigate the nature of a relationship between
mindfulness and self-efficacy (potentially with
mindfulness self-efficacy as a mediator).

Does mindfulness bypass resistance to change self-efficacy
beliefs via shared sub-skills, transformative experiences, or
another mechanism?
References
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