The Mindful Hedonist? Relationships between Well-Being Orientations, Mindfulness and Well-Being Experiences

Abstract

Orientations to well-being, including personal values, motives and goals regarding one’s well-being are often related to the experience of well-being. At the same time, studies show positive effects of mindfulness on well-being. It is conceivable, that the strength of the connection between well-being orientations and experiences depend on the degree of dispositional mindfulness. To explore relationships between orientations and experiences of well-being as well as the potential moderation effect of mindfulness, two cross-sectional online studies with German-speaking participants were conducted. In Study 1 (N = 414) mindfulness moderated the relationship between life of pleasure (measured by the Orientations to Happiness Scale) and life satisfaction (β = −0.10, p = 0.017) as well as the relationship between life of meaning (β = −0.10, p = 0.028). As hypothesized, mindfulness moderated the connection between life of engagement and life satisfaction (β = −0.14, p = 0.001) as well as the negative relationship between search for meaning and life satisfaction (β = 0.15, p < 0.001). In Study 2 (N = 731) none of those effects were statistically replicated. Yet, mindfulness moderated the relationship between hedonia (measured by the Hedonic and Eudaimonic Motives for Action Questionnaire) and life satisfaction (β = −0.07, p = 0.048) as well as the relationship between search for meaning and psychological well-being (β = 0.07, p = 0.015). Overall, the results show that mindfulness has no substantial moderating effect on the well-being orientations and experiences relationship. Yet, in both studies, mindfulness and well-being orientations were consistently related to well-being experiences. This points out, that both are related to the experience of well-being, but beyond that not as interacting factors.