Abstract
ABSTRACT Considerable research has now documented the beneficial effects of mindfulness-based practices on psychological functioning. Less is known about the long-term durability of such changes following formal meditation training. In a sample of adults (N = 67, 52% female, ages 22–70 years), we examined changes in 16 measures of psychological adaptive functioning across a 3-month residential meditation intervention and across a subsequent 7-year period. We observed general training-related improvements followed by multi-year returns toward pre-training levels. However, beneficial changes in two personality attributes (agreeableness and neuroticism) were of moderate effect size (d = 0.51 and d = 0.45, respectively) and were retained across the 7-year follow-up. We further found that individual variation in changes was represented by three latent attributes: (Changes related to) Mindful Well-being, Resilient Extraversion, and Self-Compassionate Openness. These results suggest that intensive meditation training is associated with improved adaptive functioning and enduring changes in aspects of personality.
Published Version
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