Digital mindfulness, trait anxiety, and psychological wellbeing: the chain mediating roles of emotion regulation and self-compassion

The increasing prevalence of anxiety among university students highlights the importance of understanding psychological resources associated with wellbeing in digitally mediated contexts. Digital mindfulness has attracted growing attention, but the mechanisms linking individuals’ engagement in digital mindfulness activities to psychological outcomes remain insufficiently examined. Guided by Mindfulness-to-Meaning Theory (MMT), this study examined the relationships between digital mindfulness, trait anxiety, and psychological wellbeing, with emotion regulation and self-compassion modeled as sequential mediators. Using a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 468 Jordanian undergraduates who had previously participated in university-organized digital mindfulness sessions. The study did not evaluate the effectiveness of the mindfulness program itself; rather, it focused on students’ subsequent engagement in digital mindfulness practices and their associations with psychological outcomes. Participants completed validated measures of digital mindfulness, emotion regulation, self-compassion, trait anxiety, and psychological wellbeing. The results indicated that higher levels of digital mindfulness engagement were associated with lower trait anxiety and higher psychological wellbeing. Digital mindfulness was positively associated with emotion regulation and self-compassion, which together mediated the association between digital mindfulness and lower trait anxiety and higher psychological wellbeing. These findings clarify the relational mechanisms through which digital mindfulness engagement is associated with students’ psychological functioning and contribute to a better understanding of mindfulness processes in higher education contexts.