Meditation Lowers Stress and Supports Forgiveness Among College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

TLDR

The study aimed to evaluate the effects of two 8‑week, 90‑minute-per-week meditation‑based stress‑management programs on stress, rumination, forgiveness, and hope among college undergraduates, and to assess their potential as health‑promotion tools. Participants were randomly assigned to either an 8‑week mindfulness‑based stress‑reduction program (n = 15), Easwaran’s Eight‑Point Program (n = 14), or a wait‑list control (n = 15), and completed self‑report measures at pre‑test, post‑test, and 8‑week follow‑up. Compared with wait‑list controls, the combined meditation interventions significantly reduced stress (Cohen’s d = −0.45) and increased forgiveness (d = 0.34), with marginal improvements in rumination, and no differences emerged between the two intervention types or over time.

Abstract

Objective and Participants: The authors evaluated the effects on stress, rumination, forgiveness, and hope of two 8-week, 90-min/wk training programs for college undergraduates in meditation-based stress-management tools. Methods: After a pretest, the authors randomly allocated college undergraduates to training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR; n = 15), Easwaran's Eight-Point Program (EPP; n = 14), or wait-list control (n = 15). The authors gathered pretest, posttest, and 8-week follow-up data on self-report outcome measures. Results: The authors observed no post-treatment differences between MBSR and EPP or between posttest and 8-week follow-up (p > .10). Compared with controls, treated participants (n = 29) demonstrated significant benefits for stress (p < .05, Cohen's d = -.45) and forgiveness (p < .05, d = .34) and marginal benefits for rumination (p < .10, d = -.34). Conclusions: Evidence suggests that meditation-based stress-management practices reduce stress and enhance forgiveness among college undergraduates. Such programs merit further study as potential health-promotion tools for college populations.