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Author Spotlight: Integrating Tai Chi with Mindfulness Training to Achieve an Effective Mind-Body Exercise

Author Spotlight: Integrating Tai Chi with Mindfulness Training to Achieve an Effective Mind-Body Exercise

Published on: July 14, 2023

Associations between trait mindfulness and physical activity: the parallel mediating effect of exercise positive

Zijian Zhao¹, Youteng Gan²

¹School of Physical Education, Guangdong University of Education, Guangzhou, 510800, China.

|April 23, 2025

Abstract

Objective:

An increasing body of evidence suggests that exercise positive affect contribute to sustained engagement in physical activity, yet few studies have proposed intervention strategies targeting exercise affect. Currently, mindfulness is considered to have the potential to promote the improvement of exercise affect and physical activity. This study combines cross-sectional design and longitudinal design to explore the relationship between trait mindfulness and physical activity, and examines whether exercise positive well-being and exercise psychological distress mediate this relationship.

Methods:

At first, this study adopted a large sample cross-sectional design, and assessed the participants' trait mindfulness, exercise positive well-being, exercise psychological distress and physical activity through online self-report survey (n = 853, male = 54.7%; M_age = 19.16, SD = 0.97). Subsequently, a subset of participants from the cross-sectional study (n = 354, male = 52.8%; M_age = 19.21, SD = 0.86) were followed up for three months by longitudinal follow-up design, and the time relationships between these variables was examined.

Results:

In the cross-sectional survey, the results of the correlation analysis showed that trait mindfulness, exercise positive well-being, and physical activity were all significantly positively correlated, while psychological distress was negatively correlated with the other variables. Similar correlations were observed during longitudinal follow-up. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal mediation analyses indicated that exercise positive well-being and exercise psychological distress served as parallel mediators in the relationship between trait mindfulness and physical activity.

Conclusion:

Exercise positive well-being and exercise psychological distress may serve as potential mechanisms through which trait mindfulness influences physical activity. This provides a theoretical basis and practical direction for future development of mindfulness-based interventions to promote physical activity.

Keywords:

Exercise affect Longitudinal tracking Physical activity Trait mindfulness

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