Does Mindfulness Linked to Harmful Behaviors?: The Moderating Effect of Ethics on the Relationships between Mindfulness and Proactive Aggression

Abstract

In recent years, it has been suggested that mindfulness requires an ethics of caring and not harming (harm/care) to be effective. It has also been pointed that mindfulness can lead to detrimental consequences in the absence of harm/care. This study addressed proactive, aggressive behavior as a possible harmful behavior and examined the moderation effect of harm/care on the relationship between mindfulness and proactive aggression. A questionnaire survey on 179 college students was conducted. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that when harm/care was low, mindfulness was high, as was proactive aggression. The results suggest that mindfulness may be linked to harmful behaviors in the absence of harm/care. Therefore, it is recommended that future research examine the possibility of adverse events from mindfulness-based interventions.