Two studies of loving-kindness and compassion meditation training found that the quality of meditation practice—specifically difficulties with concentration and generating prosocial attitudes—was more strongly linked to improvements in subjective well-being than the amount of time spent meditating. In a small in-person study (41 participants) and a larger online study (243 participants), both short-term weekly and long-term changes in well-being were associated with meditation quality. The findings suggest that focusing on how well people meditate, rather than how long, may be key to increasing well-being through these practices.
Loving-kindness and compassion meditation (LKCM) appears promising for increasing life satisfaction, but evidence from rigorous studies is weak. A meta-analysis of 23 studies found that LKCM significantly improved life satisfaction in pre-post comparisons (15 studies, 451 participants), but this effect disappeared when only randomized controlled trials were analyzed (6 studies, 404 participants). LKCM outperformed waitlist conditions but was less effective than active control groups. Self-compassion and positive emotions may explain how LKCM works. Practice time was only indirectly linked to life satisfaction. More well-designed studies are needed to clarify whether LKCM changes actual life circumstances or people's perceptions of their lives.