Previous correlational studies showed the importance of mindfulness and autonomous goal motivation for goal pursuit, goal setting, and goal disengagement processes. The present study examined the role of mindfulness in goal regulation processes for self-selected personal goals in a randomized waitlist control group design. Participants (N = 228, M = 30.7 years, 18–78 years; 84% female) either received daily 9-12-minute audio mindfulness exercises online for four weeks or were placed on a waitlist. Participants in the intervention group (N = 113) reported more goal progress compared with the control group (N = 116) at the end of the intervention. Autonomous goal motivation for already set goals did not influence change in goal progress. However, autonomous goal motivation for newly set goals was higher in the intervention group than in the control group. Additionally, we tested the role of mindfulness in interaction with goal attainability and autonomous motivation for goal adjustment processes (in this case, reduction of goal importance). In the control group, lower goal attainability at baseline was associated with a greater reduction in goal importance for less autonomous goals. For more autonomous goals, change in goal importance was independent from baseline attainability. In contrast, in the intervention group, all goals were slightly devalued over time independently from autonomous motivation and goal attainability at T1. Moreover, changes in goal attainability were positively linked to changes in goal importance over time. This effect was moderated by mindfulness and autonomous motivation. Overall, the findings point to the relevance of mindfulness and autonomous motivation for goal regulation processes.

先前的相关研究表明，正念和自主目标动机对于目标追求、目标设定和目标脱离过程的重要性。本研究在随机候补名单对照组设计中检验了正念在自我选择的个人目标的目标调节过程中的作用。参与者（N  = 228，M  = 30.7 岁，18-78 岁；84% 为女性）要么每天接受 9-12 分钟的在线音频正念练习，持续四个星期，要么被列入候补名单。与对照组 ( N  = 113) 相比，干预组 ( N = 113) 的参与者报告了更多的目标进展 = 116）在干预结束时。对已设定目标的自主目标激励不会影响目标进度的变化。然而，干预组对新设定目标的自主目标动机高于对照组。此外，我们还测试了正念在目标可实现性和目标调整过程的自主动机（在本例中，目标重要性降低）的相互作用中的作用。在对照组中，基线时较低的目标可实现性与自主性较低的目标的目标重要性的更大程度降低相关。对于更自主的目标，目标重要性的变化与基线可实现性无关。相比之下，在干预组中，随着时间的推移，所有目标的价值都略有下降，独立于 T1 时的自主动机和目标可实现性。而且，随着时间的推移，目标可实现性的变化与目标重要性的变化呈正相关。这种效应受到正念和自主动机的调节。总体而言，研究结果表明正念和自主动机与目标调节过程的相关性。