Mindfulness and mental health in young adults: the role of factors and methods of practice
ePrints Soton October 7, 2026 DOI: 10.5258/soton/pg/t158 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical thesis comprising a systematic review and meta-analysis, a cross-sectional study, and a pilot randomised waitlist-controlled trial Randomized Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Young adults aged 18 to 30 years (meta-analysis: mixed community and other samples; cross-sectional: 841 symptom-unselected non-treatment community young adults; pilot: 53 young adults) |
| Interventions | Mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) MINDSET 2.0 |
| Duration | MINDSET 2.0: five-week programme; follow-up period not specified |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Key findings | Argues that MBPs may offer modest, heterogeneous low-intensity support for young adults' mental health, with average effects in the small-to-moderate range but substantial unexplained heterogeneity and low-to-moderate certainty. Reports that acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity showed the clearest inverse concurrent associations with distress, while observing appeared context-sensitive. The MINDSET 2.0 pilot showed preliminary favourable patterns for depressive symptoms and perceived stress but was not powered to establish efficacy. |
Abstract
Rates of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress among young adults have increased while mental health services face persistent capacity constraints, strengthening the need for accessible, low-intensity preventive support. Mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) are widely promoted as one possible response. However, their effects across young adult populations and delivery contexts remain uncertain. Organised within an iterative translational pathway, this thesis aimed to: (i) synthesise evidence examining the effects of MBPs on mental health, affective, and mindfulness-related outcomes among young adults aged 18 to 30 years; (ii) examine the concurrent associations among mindfulness facets, metacognition, resilience, creativity, and psychological distress; and (iii) translate the resulting theoretical and empirical rationale into the development and pilot evaluation of a brief, hybrid, harm-aware programme. Chapter 2 reported a systematic review and three-level meta-analysis of 132 randomised controlled trials, involving 6,883 intervention and 6,910 control participants. Average pooled estimates favoured MBPs across anxiety, depression, stress, psychological distress, positive and negative affect, global mindfulness, and all five measured mindfulness facets, with estimates generally within the small-to-moderate range. However, residual heterogeneity was substantial, prediction intervals consistently spanned zero, and certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to low due to risk-of-bias concerns and small-study effects. Estimates were larger against passive than active comparators. Multimodal mindfulness programmes and MBCT- and MBSR-based programmes produced the clearest favourable estimates, although subgroup findings were limited by unequal study numbers and substantial unexplained heterogeneity. Intervention and study characteristics explained 6–15% of heterogeneity. The evidence was derived predominantly from samples recruited without symptom, diagnosis, or treatment-seeking criteria and represented a mixed prevention–treatment spectrum rather than a uniformly preventive literature. Chapter 3 reported cross-sectional structural equation modelling in a symptom-unselected, non-treatment community sample of 841 young adults. Psychological distress was specified as a latent factor indicated by depressive symptoms, anxious symptoms, and perceived stress. Model 1, which placed metacognition, resilience, and creativity in the first structural position and mindfulness facets in the intermediate position, demonstrated better comparative fit than the reversed configuration and statistically accounted for 53.9% of variance in latent distress. Acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity showed unique negative associations with distress, whereas observing showed a small positive association. Resilience showed a direct negative association and negative indirect associations involving acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity. Metacognition showed negative indirect associations involving acting with awareness and nonreactivity. Creativity demonstrated a bivalent pattern: a positive indirect association involving observing and a negative indirect association involving nonreactivity. These findings identify theory-consistent candidate self-regulatory capacities but do not establish temporal ordering, causal mediation, preventive effects, or psychological mechanisms. Chapter 4 reported a pilot randomised waitlist-controlled trial of MINDSET 2.0, a five-week hybrid programme situated within a selective-prevention framework. Fifty-three young adults were randomised to MINDSET 2.0 or waitlist. Nineteen of the 28 participants allocated to MINDSET 2.0 commenced the programme, and all programme starters completed post-intervention assessment. Participants completed 54 of 57 scheduled check-ins, median module completion was 94%, and home practice engagement had a median frequency score equivalent to 47% of the maximum possible score. Exploratory condition-by-time estimates at post-intervention favoured MINDSET 2.0 for depressive symptoms and perceived stress, alongside preliminary patterns across several self-reported mindfulness facets. Follow-up estimates were highly uncertain since only five waitlist participants contributed data. No adverse events were reported or detected through the limited monitoring procedures. The study provided useful information concerning commencement, retention, engagement, structured delivery, tolerability, participant experience, and protocol refinement, but was not powered to establish efficacy or effectiveness. Across the three studies, MBPs emerged as possible low-intensity options for supporting young adults’ mental health, although average effects were modest, heterogeneous, and unlikely to apply uniformly across populations or contexts. Acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity showed the clearest inverse concurrent associations with psychological distress and warrant prospective investigation as candidate intervention processes. Observing appeared more context-sensitive and should not be assumed to be uniformly beneficial or harmful. MINDSET 2.0 provides one theoretically informed operationalisation of a multidimensional, ethically and relationally scaffolded approach to mindfulness, but requires further intervention and protocol refinement. Subsequent evaluation should prespecify progression criteria, strengthen commencement and retention procedures, prospectively assess fidelity and adverse events, and pilot a credible active comparator before progression to a definitive trial.
Comparable studies
Other systematic reviews and meta-analyses on meditation, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being Diverse adult clinical populations | 2014 | Meta-analysis | n = 3,515 |
| Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Stress Management in Healthy People: A Review and Meta-Analysis Healthy subjects | 2009 | Systematic review and meta-analysis | |
| The psychological effects of meditation: A meta-analysis. Nonclinical groups of adult meditators | 2012 | Meta-analysis | n = 163 |
| Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Prevention of Depressive Relapse Adults with recurrent depression in full or partial remission | 2016 | Meta-analysis of individual patient data from randomized controlled trials | n = 1,258 |
| Mindfulness‐Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy – a systematic review of randomized controlled trials | 2011 | Systematic review |