Project 466953

Negative emotions can be burdensome and difficult to regulate, and in some individuals may lead to failures in regulating behaviour. Negative urgency (NU) is a personality trait which refers to the tendency to behave impulsively when experiencing intense negative emotions. Given that NU is a key risk factor for mental health problems and dysfunctional behaviour, there is an overlooked need to better understand how to address this form of impulsivity. It has been proposed that NU may reflect difficulties in ones ability to tolerate unpleasant emotions. Individuals who are less accepting of unpleasant emotions may also be less able to flexibly choose whether to engage in adaptive over maladaptive behaviour, leading to impulsive action in the face of negative emotion. Since mindfulness involves an increased ability to accept and tolerate all emotional experiences, this skill may be particularly relevant to NU. Being able to endure unpleasant experiences and flexibly choose to engage in goal-directed behaviour, referred to as psychological flexibility (PF), may also reflect an important skill that is lacking in those high in NU. Since both mindfulness and PF can be trained, these skills may serve to protect individuals from dysfunctional emotionally-driven behaviour. For this reason, the present study seeks to better understand the role of mindfulness and PF on NU. To do so, data on mindfulness, PF, and NU will be collected from fifty-five healthy adults. It is expected that increased mindfulness will be associated with increased PF, which will in turn be associated with decreased NU. Gaining insight on the nature of these relationships will allow us to develop effective treatment strategies for individuals who are vulnerable to behavioural problems.