title: Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol-Related Problems Among College Students: A Moderated-Mediated Model of Mindfulness and Drinking to Cope.
abstract: In college student samples, the association between depressive symptoms and alcohol-related problems has been found to be mediated by drinking-to-cope motives. Mindfulness-based interventions suggest that mindfulness may attenuate the conditioned response of using substances in response to negative emotional states, and trait mindfulness has been shown to be a protective factor associated with experiencing fewer alcohol-related problems. In the present study, we examined trait mindfulness as a moderator of the indirect associations of depressive symptoms on alcohol-related problems via drinking-to-cope motives.
  
  
  
  Participants were undergraduate students at a large, southeastern university in the United States who drank at least once in the previous month (n = 448). Participants completed an online survey regarding their personal mental health, coping strategies, trait mindfulness, and alcohol use behaviors. The majority of participants were female (n = 302; 67.4%), identified as being either White non-Hispanic (n = 213; 47.5%) or African American (n = 119; 26.6%), and reported a mean age of 22.74 (SD = 6.81) years. Further, 110 (25%) participants reported having a previous and/or current experience with mindfulness mediation.
  
  
  
  As hypothesized, the indirect effects from depressive symptoms to alcohol-related problems via drinking-to-cope motives were weaker among individuals reporting higher levels of mindfulness than among individuals reporting lower and average levels of mindfulness.
  
  
  
  The present study suggests a possible mechanism through which mindfulness-based interventions may be efficacious among college students: decoupling the associations between depressive symptoms and drinking-to-cope motives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.
authors.forename: Adrian J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bravo
authors.affiliation: Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, & Addictions, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.
authors.forename: Leah E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Stevens
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Henson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D063425:Binge Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D064866:Mindfulness; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D014768:Virginia; D055815:Young Adult