The effect of mindfulness interventions on couple relationship satisfaction: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Journal of consulting and clinical psychology June 1, 2025 Andreas Voldstad, Ananda Zeas-Sigüenza, Anton Skolzkov et al. 2 citations
Mindfulness interventions that train nonjudgmental attention to present-moment experience have a consistent but small effect on romantic relationship satisfaction. A meta-analysis of 28 randomized controlled trials with 6,097 participants found a significant medium effect initially, but this was driven by extreme outliers. After removing those outliers, the effect was small and consistent. Effects were moderated by intervention length, baseline satisfaction, and risk of bias. The certainty of the evidence is very low due to inconsistency, imprecision, risk of bias, and suspicion of publication bias. The findings point to the need for better program theory and rigorous methodology.