Gender differences in the influence of app-based mindfulness meditation on emotion regulation: a randomised controlled trial.

In a randomized controlled trial with 300 Japanese workers, a four-week app-based mindfulness intervention including breathing, body-scan, loving-kindness, and open-monitoring meditations was compared to a waitlist. Women who completed the intervention showed greater cognitive flexibility and reduced angry reactions, while men showed no significant changes in these measures. The gender differences did not survive correction for multiple testing, so the findings should be interpreted cautiously. The results tentatively suggest that brief online mindfulness programs may benefit cognitive flexibility and anger regulation differently for women and men, highlighting the potential value of personalized digital mental health interventions.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This study investigated whether gender moderates the effects of online mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on mental health outcomes in non-clinical populations. Specifically, we explored gender-related patterns in emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility. Data were obtained from a randomised controlled trial employing a crossover design in 2022 and 2023. Three hundred Japanese workers employed for at least 20 h weekly were randomly allocated to either an intervention or a waitlist group. The participants engaged in a four-week, app-based MBI involving daily guided practices, including brief breathing and body-scan meditations, with either loving-kindness or open-monitoring components. Perceived stress, anger, psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and emotion regulation were assessed at baseline and immediately after the four-week intervention or waitlist period. Interaction analyses between groups and gender revealed significant effects for cognitive flexibility (p = 0.023, partial η2 = 0.018) and angry reaction (p = 0.007, partial η2 = 0.025), although these findings did not survive correction for multiple testing. Exploratory simple slope analyses showed women showed greater cognitive flexibility (p = 0.034, Cohen’s d = 0.36) and reduced angry reactions (p < 0.001, Cohen’s d = −0.56), whereas men showed no significant changes in either variable (p = 0.202, Cohen’s d = -0.29 and p = 0.350, Cohen’s d = 0.22, respectively). This study tentatively suggests that brief online MBIs in preventive contexts may be associated with greater improvements in cognitive flexibility, with exploratory patterns indicating possible gender-related heterogeneity. However, these gender-related patterns should be interpreted cautiously. Considering individual differences, including gender, may help guide future preregistered personalisation research of digital psychological interventions.