Can an apophatic meditation promote long-term adjustment in hope? A time-series model of centering meditation

Abstract

The authors investigate the effects of centering meditation on state hope among college and graduate students through a randomized controlled trial. Participants (n = 150; 65% white, 84% female) were randomized to either a centering meditation group or a waitlist control group. Time-series analyses indicated that centering meditation significantly improved hope, suggesting long-term dynamic adjustment, compared to a control group. Specifically, the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) procedures indicated that the treatment group exhibited a statistically significant upward trend in hope, ARIMA (1, 1, 0). As expected, the control group's levels of hope were stationary, ARIMA (1, 0, 1). The study highlights the potential benefits of centering meditation as an evidence-based counseling intervention for improving hope in the college population.