Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
College
College of Education and International Services
Program
School Psychology, Ph.D.
First Advisor
Nadia Nosworthy
Second Advisor
Karla Basurto-Gutierrez
Third Advisor
Bradly Hinman
Abstract
Problem
Anxiety is one of the most common psychological issues affecting youth globally and is particularly prevalent among Saudi adolescents and college students. Studies in Saudi Arabia have reported anxiety rates ranging from 48.9% to 66.2% among adolescents and high levels of generalized anxiety among university students, especially females (Aldosary et al., 2023; Alhabeeb et al., 2023). Poor emotion regulation has been identified as a key factor associated with anxiety and other mental health difficulties. In recent years, mindfulness has gained attention as a protective factor that promotes better emotion regulation and reduces anxiety symptoms. Despite this growing recognition, there remains a lack of empirical studies in Saudi educational settings examining the interplay between mindfulness, emotion regulation, and anxiety. This study addresses this gap by exploring how mindfulness and emotion regulation relate to anxiety among first-year college students in Saudi Arabia.
Method
The study used a quantitative, descriptive, non-experimental, correlational, cross-sectional, and predictive research design. It involved 667 first-year college students enrolled in universities across Saudi Arabia. The majority of participants were female (73.6%), and most had not previously received psychological support. Data were collected through self-report online surveys using validated scales to measure mindfulness, emotion regulation, and anxiety. Confirmatory factor analysis, path analysis, independent T-tests, and logistic regression were used to examine the relationship among variables, assess gender differences, and explore predictors of psychological support status.
Results
The study found that students reported relatively low-to-moderate anxiety (M = 1.45), moderate levels of mindfulness (M = 3.06), and moderate levels of emotion regulation (M = 3.16). Males showed significantly lower anxiety (M = 1.21) and higher emotion regulation (M = 3.36) than females. The logistic regression model showed that students experiencing more physical anxiety symptoms (OR = 2.48), or social anxiety (OR = 1.62) were significantly more likely to have received psychological support. In contrast, those with higher separation anxiety were less likely to seek support (OR = 0.56). Although the model explained a small portion of the variance (12.5%), these anxiety profiles contributed meaningfully to predicting help-seeking behavior. Path analysis revealed that mindfulness and emotion regulation explained 34% of the variance in anxiety (R² = 0.34). Emotion regulation partially mediated the relationship between mindfulness and anxiety, with a significant indirect effect (β = –0.239, p < .001).
Conclusions
These findings demonstrate that mindfulness and emotion regulation play a significant role in reducing anxiety among first-year college students in Saudi Arabia. The study offers practical implications for incorporating mindfulness-based and emotion regulation strategies into university mental health initiatives. By targeting these psychological mechanisms, such interventions may improve students’ emotional well-being and support academic success within this population.
Subject Area
Anxiety; Mindfulness (Psychology); Emotions; College Students; Saudi Arabia
Recommended Citation
Aljuaid, Tahani, "The Relationship Between Mindfulness, Emotion Regulation, and Anxiety Levels among College Students in Saudi Arabia" (2025). Dissertations. 1840.
https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1840
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.