The mediating role of mindfulness in the relationship between perceived social support and psychological stress in high school students

In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationships between social support, psychological stress and mindfulness. Relational screening method was used in the study. The participants of the study consisted of a total of 441 people, 262 (59.4%) women and 179 (40.6%) men, determined by convenient sampling method. Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, Revised Stress Coping Strategies Scale, Mindfulness Scale Adolescent Form and Personal Information Form were used as data collection tools. In the analysis of the data, Independent Groups t Test, One-Way Anova, Pearson Correlation Analysis and regression analysis based on Bootstrap method were performed using SPSS 26 package program. As a result of the analyses, it was determined that mindfulness has a partial mediating role in the relationship between social support and psychological stress. In the social support variable, a significant difference was found according to gender, perceived income level and high school type, but no significant difference was found according to parental education level and living environment. In the psychological stress variable, a significant difference was found according to gender and high school type, but no significant difference was found according to parental education level, perceived income level and living environment. In the mindfulness variable, a significant difference was found according to gender and living environment, but no significant difference was found according to parental education level, perceived income level and high school type. In the findings regarding the relationship between variables, it was found that there was a significant negative relationship between social support and psychological stress variables and between social support and mindfulness variables. There was a significant positive relationship between psychological stress and mindfulness variables. The results were discussed in the light of the literature and suggestions were presented for the field experts and future studies.