Effect of Mindfulness Training on Happiness, Emotion Regulation, and Psychological Capital in Students

Objective: University students are increasingly at risk for emotional and psychological challenges that affect academic performance and personal well-being. Mindfulness-based interventions have shown promise in enhancing adaptive coping, emotional stability, and positive psychological traits. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness training on happiness, cognitive emotion regulation, and psychological capital in university students. Methods and Materials: A quasi-experimental design with pre-test, post-test, and two-month follow-up was used. Thirty undergraduate psychology students from Islamic Azad University, Tehran South Branch, were selected via purposive sampling and randomly assigned to experimental (n = 15) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group received eight weekly 90-minute mindfulness sessions. Measures included the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), and the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12). Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA via SPSS v26.

Findings: The intervention group showed significant improvements in happiness, adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and psychological capital from pre-test to post-test and follow-up (p< 0.001). Additionally, maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies significantly decreased in the experimental group. No significant changes were observed in the control group.

Conclusion: Mindfulness training effectively enhances emotional well-being and psychological resilience in university students. These findings support the integration of mindfulness-based practices into higher education settings to promote student mental health and academic success.