Effects of school-based meditation courses on self-reflection, academic attention, and subjective well-being in South Korean middle school students

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of school-based meditation courses on middle school students' self-reflection, academic attention (ability to focus in classrooms), and subjective well-being. Design and methods: The research design was a nonequivalent group comparison (n = 163) with pretest and post-test. The experimental group (n = 81) was given an eight-week meditation course and the control group (n = 82) was given other elective courses such as calligraphy and reading. Results: The experimental group showed significant increases in self-reflection (t = 2.536, p = .012) and academic attention (t = 2.767, p = .006), but subjective well-being did not increase significantly (t = 0.906, p = .367). Life satisfaction was the only subcomponent of subjective well-being that increased significantly (t = 2.438, p = .016); the other subjective well-being subcomponents did not show any significant changes. Conclusions: Self-reflection and academic attention significantly increased in middle school students after an eight-week meditation course. Even though changes in subjective well-being were not significant, one of its subcomponents (life satisfaction) did show significant improvement. Self-reflection and subjective well-being were shown to be influential factors for academic attention (48.5% of the variance explained). Practice implications: This study is meaningful in that it examined positive benefits of a meditation course in middle school students and explored the feasibility of such a course in a school system.