The Effect Of Mindfulness Meditation On The Perceived Quality Of Romantic Relationships

Chris Tremblay, B.A.

Elizabeth P. Ossoff, Ph.D.

Saint Anselm College, Manchester NH

Meditation and Mindfulness

– Definition of Mindfulness: A state of consciousness during which one consciously attends to his or her moment-to-moment experience with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance. (Kabat-Zinn, 1993)

– Definition of Meditation: To engage in the practice of mental silence. (Marchand, 2012)

3 Components of Mindfulness

1. Intention: “WHY”. (Symptom reduction. Self-exploration. Self-regulation)

Shapiro found those whose goals was self-regulation attained self-regulation. (Shapiro, et al. 2006)

2. Attention: Awareness of moment-to-moment experience.

NO SLEEPING!!!

3. Attitude: Curiosity, openness, acceptance. Self-compassion

Accept things as they are.

The Practice of Meditation

Clinically found to Alleviate Symptoms of:

– Depression (Greeson et al., 2015)

– Anxiety (Garrison et al., 2015)

– Negative Symptoms of Coronary Heart Disease (Parswani, Sharma & Lyengar, 2013)

– Improved positive mood with Women undergoing Cancer Treatment (Tamagawa, Et al, 2015)

2Month Program

MBSR

Mindfulness and Personal Relationships

– The ability to identify one’s own emotions has also been shown to increase empathy and a greater sensitivity towards his or her partner (McCreary & Alderson, 2013).

– Kabat-Zinn (1993) and Welwood (1996) have suggested that mindfulness promotes attunement, connection, and closeness in relationships.

HypothesisBrief meditation reduces perceived stress and conflict in relationships, and thus improves overall relationship satisfaction.

Method

Participants

– 40 Undergraduate Students 27 Female 13 Male.

– In a Romantic Relationship for at least 3 months

– 68% of relationships had lasted longer than a year

– 41% had dated only 1 person

– 55% saw their partner on a daily basis

– 60% meditated only once over the last year

– 1 month later- N=21 (5 males 16 Females)

Method

Materials

– 18min MBSR Clip “Sitting Mediation Practice” (Sounds True, 2015)

– 18min audio bird sounds taken from ListeningEarth.com, “Kooyoora Autumn Afternoon” (2011)

– Both had background Piano Music Titled “Compassion” from Signatures on Water by Manes De moor (2015)

Method

Measures

– Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003)

– Self-Monitoring Scale (Synder, 1974)

– Quality of Relationship Scale; Conflict, Support, and Depth (Pierce, Sarason & Sarason, 1991)

– Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, (RDAS; Busby et al., 1995)

– 32-item version Couples Satisfaction Index (CSI; Fincham & Bradbury, 1987)

– 10-item version Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen, Kamarak & Merlestein, 1983)

Procedure

ResultsMixed ANOVA (2X2X2)

TIME Pretest _ Posttest____

Measure M SD M SD F(1,36) parteta2

QRIsupport 3.72 .32 3.79 .36 *4.06 .10QRIconflict 1.68 .31 1.60 .32 *5.91 .14MAAS 4.15 .82 4.26 .88 *5.50 .13RDAS 52.82 6.89 54.72 6.89 *29.25 .45CSI 142.40 18.81 145.47 17.63 ***8.60 .19*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

TIME by GROUP Pretest Posttest

Condition Control Meditation Control MeditationMeasure M SE M SE M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

RDAS 53.58 1.65 53.02 1.72 56.58 1.60 53.94 1.67 **8.93 .19*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001 TIME by GROUP by GENDER

Pretest PosttestCondition Control Meditation Control Meditation__Measure M SE M SE M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

QRISupport Males 3.84 .12 3.81 .13 3.86 .13 3.98 .13 *4.71 .12QRISupport Females 3.66 .09 3.68 .09 3.80 .10 3.65 .10 *p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

Results

Between-Subjects Effects

GENDER Male Female__ Measure M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

QRIdepth 3.75 .10 3.52 .07 *4.31 .11PSS 10.40 1.54 16.65 1.07 **11.14 .24*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001 GROUP by GENDER

Males FemalesCondition Control Meditation Control MeditationMeasure M SE M SE M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2QRIConflict 1.50 .11 1.87 .12 1.64 .08 1.61 .08 *4.40 .11*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

1 Month LaterMixed ANOVA(3X2X2)

TIME Pretest Posttest 1month___

Measure M SE M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

QRIdepth 3.52 .07 3.56 .08 3.70 .07 *4.82 .22PSS 11.50 1.70 11.00 1.51 14.28 1.03 *4.13 .20MAAS 4.31 .21 4.41 .20 3.41 .22 ***30.31 .64CSI 145.55 4.30 148.72 4.01 120.00 2.93 ***29.13 .63*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

TIME by GENDER Pretest Posttest 1month

Condition Males Females Males Females Males FemalesMeasure M SE M SE M SE M SE M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

MAAS 4.51 .37 4.12 .20 4.66 .35 4.17 .19 3.16 .38 3.65 .21 **7.18 .30*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

1 Month Later

Between-Subjects EffectsGROUP

Meditation Control___ Measure M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

QRIdepth 3.47 .10 3.71 .08 *4.12 .20*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

GENDER Male Female___

Measure M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta2

RDAS 57.78 2.94 51.00 1.61 *4.13 .20PSS 7.17 2.24 17.35 1.23 ***16.00 .48*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

GROUP by GENDER Males Females

Condition Control Meditation Control MeditationMeasure M SE M SE M SE M SE F(1,36) parteta²QRIConflict 1.22 .21 1.75 .17 1.68 .10 1.55 .10 *4.72 .22*p<.05; **p<.01; ***p<.001

What’s it all mean…For the future

– Results indicate that satisfaction and mindfulness increased pre and post condition whereas distress and conflict went down as expected.

– Mindfulness meditation alone significantly reduced relational distress as measured by the RDAS.

– Males in the meditation group showed increased levels of support for their partner.

– Females also showed significantly more perceived stress and greater conflict levels than the males in this study.

– After a month depth in the relationship went up whereas mindful awareness went down, males losing more mindfulness than females.

– Stress went up for both genders, but more strongly for females; whereas couples perceived satisfaction went down for both genders.

– The results demonstrate that both conditions improved relaxation, which decreased conflict scores and improved satisfaction revealing potential benefits of even short-term meditation programs for relationship outcomes.

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