The effects of school-based program on mindfulness practice with lovingkindness

Abstract

A growing body of research has supported the benefits of mindfulness practice. However, not many studies investigated its effects on positive human functioning. In addition, most studies treated mindfulness as skills and techniques for achieving bare awareness, without addressing its philosophical underpinnings. In the Buddhist tradition, mindfulness is paying close attention to one’s immediate experience in an attitude of lovingkindness. The essence of mindfulness will be lost if the practice is reduced to skills and techniques for achieving bare awareness. In view of the limitations of past research, the present study compared the effects of the mindfulness practice with pure skills training and the mindfulness practice with lovingkindness. Instead of focusing on clinical problems, the present study examined the effects of mindfulness practice on the personal and social wellbeing of adolescents in school setting. Personal wellbeing was indicated by affect (positive vs. negative), general health, and emotion management whereas social wellbeing was indicated by sense of connectedness, self-report and actual prosocial behaviors. The present study also examined the psychological mechanisms that accounted for the intervention effects on personal and social wellbeing. The participants were 188 junior secondary students (67 girls and 121 boys) from two schools. Their age ranged from 12 to 16 years (M = 13.24). They were assigned randomly to one of the three 8 week programs: Mindfulness, Lovingkindness, or Study Skills. The first program focused on skills and techniques on mindfulness practice. The second program was the same as the first program except that lovingkindness component was included. The last program focused on study skills and served as the control condition. The participants completed a battery of measures prior to and immediately after the training. To investigate the sustainability of intervention effect, they completed the same battery of measures again two months later. Four hypotheses were formulated. Hypothesis 1: Compared to the participants in the control condition, the participants in the mindfulness and lovingkindness programs would have better personal wellbeing after the intervention. Hypothesis 2: Compared to the participants in the control condition and the mindfulness program, the participants in the lovingkindness program would have better social wellbeing after the intervention. Hypothesis 3: With reference to personal wellbeing, emotion management would mediate the intervention effects on affect and general health. Hypothesis 4: With reference to social wellbeing, connectedness would mediate the intervention effect on prosocial behaviors. Consistent with Hypothesis 1, the results showed that compared to the participants in the control condition, the participants in the mindfulness and lovingkindness programs had better personal wellbeing. As for Hypothesis 2, the participants of the mindfulness program also had significant improvement in social wellbeing although the participants of…