Gender Differences in the Influence of Mindfulness Meditation on Emotion Regulation: Randomized Controlled Trial with a Smartphone App Intervention

This study investigated the potential moderating effects of gender in online mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on mental health problems in healthy populations. Specifically, it explored gender differences in emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility and the mechanisms underlying the influence of MBIs on mental health problems. Data were obtained from randomized controlled trials using a crossover design in 2022 and 2023. A total of 300 workers were randomly allocated to either an intervention or a waitlist group. The participants practiced mindfulness exercises following an app-based MBI for four weeks. Perceived stress, anger, psychological flexibility, self-esteem, and emotion regulation were measured before and after the intervention or waitlist periods. Interaction analyses between groups and gender revealed significant effects for cognitive flexibility ( p  = .02) and angry reaction ( p  = .007). Simple slope analyses showed women had significantly increased cognitive flexibility ( p  = .03) and decreased anger reactions ( p  < .001). This study showed that brief online MBIs in preventive contexts enhanced cognitive flexibility more so in women than in men. Considering individual differences, including gender, is important to optimize psychological interventions.