Navara, Geoff S.
The Ethereal Path to Well-Being: An Exploration of the Connections Between Meditation, Spirituality, and Psychological Health
The traditions of spirituality and meditation have been found to connect to psychological health in the form of increased happiness, empathy, and decreased anxiety. The present study aimed to better understand how these practices might connect to such beneficial outcomes. A sample of 363 undergraduate student participants completed a questionnaire that measured their meditation practice, mindfulness, spirituality, happiness, empathy, and anxiety. Contrary to expectations, meditators and non- meditators did not significantly differ in their psychological health outcomes. These findings have implications for how meditators and non-meditator groups should be differentiated in research. Regarding spirituality, the purpose and meaning and innerness dimensions of the construct significantly predicted happiness and decreased anxiety, while the unified interconnectedness dimension significantly predicted empathy. The transcendence dimension of spirituality did not significantly predict psychological health. This pattern of results has implications for spiritual care interventions that intend to augment psychological health.
Author Keywords: Anxiety, Empathy, Happiness, Meditation, Psychological health, Spirituality