Prior to the intervention, the meditators exhibited significantly more depressive symptomatology and less trait mindfulness than the nonmeditators. This is consistent with previous research in both clinical and non-clinical populations, which suggests that mindfulness and ruminative disorders like depression have an inverse relationship (Borkovec, 2002; Roemer & Orsillo, 2002). However, the apparent disparity between the groups at baseline is significant as it may potentially confound any changes detected on these measures. This will be discussed in more detail in a later section.