In-Person Contemplative Dyad Meditation to Increase Mindfulness, Connection, and Well-Being in Young Adults: A Small Randomized Controlled Trial

Objectives: This study tested whether in-person Contemplative Dyad Meditation (CDM) can help young adults connect and improve well-being. In CDM, two individuals take turns sharing present-moment experiences while the other listens non-judgmentally. CDM was compared to an active social comparison condition, Fast Friends (FF), and a no-intervention group (NI).METHODS: This preregistered, randomized controlled trial enrolled 119 participants aged 18–35 (82% women, 1% non-binary, 17% men). Participants were assigned to CDM, FF, or NI. CDM participants received a meditation training followed by up to six in-person practice sessions over two weeks, whereas FF participants completed up to six structured in-person conversations. Primary intervention-level outcomes—assessed before and after the entire intervention—included self-reported mindfulness, thriving, and loneliness. The primary session-level outcome—assessed before and after each exercise—was closeness. Secondary and exploratory outcomes included intervention-level measures of affect, depression, anxiety, social anxiety, self-compassion, and empathy, as well as session-level measures of affect and heart rate. Analyses were per-protocol, supplemented by a conservative, complete-case intention-to-treat analysis.

Results: CDM significantly increased mindfulness compared to both FF and NI, but no effects were found for thriving or loneliness. Lower baseline mindfulness was associated with greater increases in mindfulness following CDM. Both CDM and FF increased momentary closeness from before to after the respective practices. Regarding secondary intervention-level outcomes, CDM increased overall positive affect after the intervention period, whereas no effects emerged for the remaining measures or for FF. However, modest statistical power warrants caution in interpreting null findings. At the session-level, both CDM and FF increased momentary positive affect after the practices, while FF additionally reduced momentary negative affect. Exploratory analyses indicated that CDM, but not FF, was associated with reduced heart rate following the exercises, consistent with reduced emotional arousal. Intention-to-treat analyses showed broadly similar patterns of results, although mindfulness effects no longer survived correction for multiple comparisons.CONCLUSIONS: We provide initial evidence that CDM can increase mindfulness, positive affect, and social connection in young adults, whereas FF showed benefits primarily for social connection. Exploratory analyses suggested distinct physiological correlates across conditions. CDM involved a higher time investment due to the initial meditation training, potentially affecting comparability. Both CDM and FF may be beneficial for improving social connection, while operating through partly different mechanisms. Given the small sample size and lack of long-term follow-up, further research is needed.