Questionable prospective associations between mindfulness and mental health problems: A simulated multiverse reanalysis and comment on Ma et al. (2026)

Based on findings in cross-lagged panel network (CLPN) models, Ma et al. concluded prospective effects between indicators of mindfulness and mental health problems. Here, we used multiverse methodology and found discrepant increasing, decreasing, and null effects depending on the used model, and meta-analytic aggregations of these discrepant effects did not differ significantly from zero. Hence, the conclusions by Ma et al. can be challenged. It is important for researchers to bear in mind that correlations, including cross-lagged effects in CLPN models, do not prove causality in order not to overinterpret findings, something that appears to have happened to Ma et al. For increased analytic rigor, we recommend researchers to fit, as we did here, alternative models to data and to juxtapose findings.