Can we Predict Who Benefits Most From Mindfulness? Exploring Baseline Variables Influencing Responses to Mindfulness-Based Interventions in Young Adults

Abstract Objectives While mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have shown broad mental health benefits, few studies have examined which individuals benefit the most. Since emotion regulation is a core psychological process implicated in many mental health outcomes, this study aimed to investigate whether baseline participant characteristics predict improvements in emotion regulation following an MBI.

Method: Participants were 161 students (M = 22.1, SD = 3.22) recruited from the University of Amsterdam and enrolled in either a 7 week mindfulness course or an unrelated psychology course that served as the control group. Linear regression analyses were conducted to determine the predictors of improvements in emotion regulation from pre- to post-intervention. Specifically, the study examined the influence of trait mindfulness, mental health, well-being, intervention expectations, perceived recent stress, and lifetime stress.

Results: Baseline trait mindfulness was the only significant predictor of change in emotion regulation after the intervention (b = -0.25, SE = 0.13, p < 0.05). Participants with lower scores on trait mindfulness at baseline showed greater improvements in emotion regulation. Other baseline participant characteristics, including mental health, well-being, intervention expectations, perceived recent stress, and lifetime stress, did not significantly predict changes in emotion regulation.

Conclusions: This study advances understanding of individual differences in response to mindfulness-based interventions and highlights the importance of measuring trait mindfulness before implementation. Further research is needed to explore additional predictors and replicate these findings across different populations and intervention formats. Preregistration This study is a secondary analysis using data from a preregistered project (Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/HET8G). The current aims and hypotheses were developed post hoc and were not part of the original preregistration.