Our new article, which has just been published online in Journal of Health Psychology Research, concerns lifestyle changes in Japanese university students related to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and how such changes may be associated with dispositional mindfulness and psychological health outcomes.

Ishikawa, H., Kamoda, S., Chen, J., Yamagami, A., & Miyata, H. (2022). Psychological health in undergraduates under the COVID-19 pandemic and a protecting role of mindfulness: Focusing on lifestyles and their changes. Journal of Health Psychology Research. J-STAGE Advance publication (in Japanese with English summary).

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jhpr/advpub/0/advpub_211102145/_article/-char/ja

An online questionnaire survey revealed post-pandemic changes in students including increased time spent at home and using PCs, greater expectations that they may be infected with the coronavirus, and greater extent to which they feel are being exposed to COVID-19-related media reports.

On the other hand, a moderating effect of mindfulness was also found. Subjective frequency of exposure to pandemic-related media reports significantly predicted increase in perceived stress when mindfulness was relatively low. When mindfulness was high, however, such associations were not observed.

Even for university students, most of whom are not habitual practitioners of mindfulness/meditation, tendencies for trait mindfulness are suggested to play a significant role in protecting psychological health levels during the pandemic period. These data seem to be suggestive in how we could live better lives in the present time.