Examining the Moderating Effect of Mindfulness on the Relationship between Job Stressors and Strain Outcomes

Interest in the construct of mindfulness has steadily increased in recent years. The current investigation characterized mindfulness as a personal resource that has the potential to help individuals deal with stressors at work, thereby reducing the likelihood that those stressors will result in personal and job-related strain outcomes. This possibility was examined by considering mindfulness in relation to various stressors (i.e., workload, organizational constraints, experienced incivility) and strain outcomes (i.e., mental symptoms of strain, physical symptoms of strain, job dissatisfaction). Data were collected via an online survey administered to a sample of police officers (n = 239). Two statistically significant interactions were observed, whereby mindfulness moderated the relationship between workload and both mental and physical symptoms of strain.