Mindfulness in Close and Romantic Relationships

In recent decades, mindfulness has become a hotly debated and researched topic within various fields of psychology, including clinical, developmental, and social psychology, and neuroscience. Until recently, research and applications (e.g., interventions) were primarily concerned with whether and how mindfulness can contribute to individual functioning and well-being.

While the impact of mindfulness on social functioning and well-being was often claimed, theory and empirical research on this topic were largely lacking. In 2017, a BSI team led by Johan Karremans published a theoretical paper in Personality and Social Psychology Review that bridged and integrated the sciences on mindfulness and social relationships (with a particular focus on romantic relationships). The theoretical model proposed in this article generated specific predictions of how mindfulness, through various intra-individual psychological and neurophysiological mechanisms, can affect the emotional, cognitive, and behavioural dynamics between social interaction partners. In a recent chapter of the Handbook of Mindfulness and Self-Regulation, we have termed this the MIRROR model, which stands for the Mindfulness in Relationships, Regulation Of Responses model. Based on the model, we have, for example, examined the role of (trait) mindfulness in partner acceptance and interpersonal forgiveness, and we have tested several small-scale mindfulness interventions among couples.

Through various grants (Mind&Life Institute, Glasgow-Radboud collaboration fund, and EU Marie Curie grant), this research line led to various national and international collaborations within and outside the Radboud University. Recently, we have co-edited a special issue on mindfulness and social relationships for the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, that reflected the rapid developments and open questions in this relatively young research field.

Beyond theoretical impact, this line of research also included several applied projects, focusing on mindfulness and coping with serious illness in partner relationships, and on mindfulness and social relationships among Dutch police officers. The results of the latter project contributed to ensuring that mindfulness became a recognized training program for police officers in the Netherlands. In the wake of this research, in 2018, Johan Karremans co-founded (with Martin van Boxtel, Maastricht University) the scientific committee of the Society of Mindfulness Trainers in Belgium and the Netherlands, to inform professional mindfulness trainers on recent scientific developments, and of bridging the science and practice on mindfulness more broadly.