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Understanding the Affective and Mental Health Outcomes of Meditation Interventions: The Role of Individual Differences in Self-compassion.

Manuella B Kury, Barbara L. Fredrickson, Patty van Cappellen, Brian P Don

Mindfulness 2026 DOI: 10.1007/s12671-026-02803-z (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Randomized intervention study Preregistered Peer reviewed
Sample size 217
Population Adults
Interventions Mindfulness meditation Loving-kindness meditation
Duration 6 weeks
Topics Depression Meditation
Keywords Emotion Guilt and shame Loving-kindness meditation Mindfulness meditation Self-compassion
Key points Participants lower in self-compassion before the intervention experienced greater affective and mental health benefits across the course of the intervention period.

Abstract

Extensive research documents that mindfulness meditation (MM) and loving-kindness meditation (LKM) have benefits for emotional, social, and mental health outcomes. Despite this work documenting the benefits of meditation practice, research also demonstrates that meditation does not always have equivalent effects for all people. So, who is most likely to benefit from meditation practice? In this study, we proposed that individual differences in baseline levels of self-compassion may moderate the association between meditation training and affective, social, and mental health outcomes across time. To test this proposition, we used data from a randomized intervention study (collected from 2013 to 2015) where 217 adults received 6 weeks of training in either MM or LKM, and reported their emotions, feelings of social connectedness, and depressive symptoms. Consistent with our pre-registered hypotheses, results from multilevel analyses demonstrated that participants who were lower in self-compassion prior to the intervention tended to experience greater affective and mental health benefits across the course of the intervention period. Moderated mediation analyses demonstrated that increases in self-compassion from pre- to post-intervention mediated the relationship between training in meditation and lower depression across time, but only for those with lower baseline self-compassion levels. These findings spotlight the role of individual differences in self-compassion in contributing to people's response to meditation interventions, suggesting that people low in self-compassion may stand to benefit the most from meditation training. This study was pre-registered and the pre-registration can be viewed on https://aspredicted.org/48ik9.pdf. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-026-02803-z.

Comparable studies

Other randomized controlled trials on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation Healthy employees in a work environment 2003 Randomized controlled trial n = 41
Prevention of relapse/recurrence in major depression by mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Recovered recurrently depressed patients 2000 Randomized controlled trial n = 145
Open hearts build lives: Positive emotions, induced through loving-kindness meditation, build consequential personal resources. Working adults 2008 Randomized controlled trial n = 139
Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Undergraduate Chinese students 2007 Randomized controlled trial n = 40
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Recovered recurrently depressed patients 2004 Randomized controlled trial n = 73

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Depression Meditation