The Effects of Mindfulness and Buddhist Meditation Coaching on Mental Health Outcomes in College Students

Abstract

College students are vulnerable to diverse mental health disorders. We aimed to investigate whether a meditation class would be an effective means to address students’ mental health challenges. Among the college students who registered for the meditation course, 256 participants were enrolled. The meditation course was a 15-week program incorporating mindfulness meditation and Ganhwa Seon (a traditional Buddhist meditation). A questionnaire was administered twice, on the first and last class of the course, collecting information on personal characteristics and six mental health indicators. A paired t-test was used to examine whether the meditation course conferred benefit on the mental health indicators, and logistic regression analyses were run to identify factors associated with mental health outcomes. After completing the meditation course, there were significant improvements for the adult ADHD score$\left(p<0.01\right)$and ego identity (p = 0.02) but not for the other outcomes. Among college students, meditation practice may have positive effects on the adult ADHD score and ego identity.