Abstract
University students are at elevated risk of psychological distress, underscoring the need for interventions that promote resilience. Psychological resilience refers to the capacity to withstand or recover from stress. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the effects of meditation-only interventions on resilience in university students compared with active and passive controls and examined whether effects varied by meditation style, intervention intensity, delivery mode or follow-up length. A literature search of MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Science identified randomised controlled trials involving university students who participated in meditation-only interventions and reported resilience-related outcomes. Pairwise random-effects models, mixed-effects meta-regression and network meta-analysis were used to estimate standardised mean differences (SMDs) at postintervention. Eighty-eight studies with 8728 participants were included. The overall effect was −0.11 (95% CI = −0.63 to 0.41, I
2 = 59%) for resilience scales, 0.27 (95% CI = 0.20–0.35, I
2 = 40%) for resilience-related mental health outcomes and 0.54 (95% CI = 0.34–0.73, I
2 = 76%) for resilience factors. These findings suggest that meditation-only interventions may improve resilience-related mental health outcomes and resilience factors, but evidence for direct effects on resilience scales remains limited. Interpretation is constrained by heterogeneity and limited power in moderation analyses.