Research on individual differences in mind wandering (MW) in healthy adults has supported the separation of spontaneous and deliberate MW given their different association with a number of psychological traits. This study aimed to further test this distinction by investigating the associations of the two types of MW with attentional control and depressive symptomatology in adolescents. Data were collected on 439 9–10th graders, who completed measures of spontaneous and deliberate MW, distractibility, difficulty in attentional shifting, and depressive symptomatology. A multivariate three‐level multiple regression revealed that distractibility was a significant predictor of only spontaneous MW, whereas difficulties in attentional shifting and depressive symptoms were significant predictors of both types of MW. However, the last two variables were stronger predictors for spontaneous than for deliberate MW. These findings provide support for the distinction, beyond their theoretical and empirical overlap, between the two types of MW also in adolescents and suggest the independent contribution of cognitive functioning and depressive symptoms.

中文翻译：

---

区分青少年的自发性与故意的精神游荡：注意控制和抑郁症状的作用。

对健康成年人的心理游荡（MW）个体差异的研究支持了自发性和故意性MW的分离，因为它们与多种心理特征的关联不同。这项研究旨在通过调查两种类型的兆瓦与青少年注意控制和抑郁症状的关联来进一步检验这种区别。收集了439名9-10年级学生的数据，这些学生完成了自发性和故意性MW，分心，注意力转移困难和抑郁症状的测量。多元三级多元回归显示，分散性仅是自发性MW的重要预测指标，而注意力转移和抑郁症状的困难是两种类型MW的重要预测指标。然而，最后两个变量是自发性MW的强预测因子，而不是有意MW。这些发现为青少年在两种类型的兆瓦之外的理论和经验上的重叠提供了支持，并表明了认知功能和抑郁症状的独立贡献。