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 the lovingkindness program had the greatest improvement among the three programs. Consistent with Hypotheses 3, the results revealed that emotion management mediated the intervention effects (mindfulness and lovingkindness vs. control) on affect and general health. As for Hypothesis 4, connectedness mediated the intervention effect (lovingkindness vs. mindfulness and control) on self-report prosocial behaviors. It was also found that connectedness mediated the intervention effect (mindfulness and lovingkindness vs. control) on self-report prosocial behaviors. Intervention effects were still found two months after the training. These results have significant implications for school-based intervention programs on mindfulness practice.
目次
TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i DECLARATIONS iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS viii LIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF FIGURES xiv CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1 Benefits of Mindfulness Practice 1 Conceptualization of Mindfulness 2 Lovingkindness 3 Mindfulness Practice with Adolescents 4 Purpose of the Present Study 6 Mindfulness and Personal Well-Being 7 Mindfulness with Lovingkindness and Social Well-Being 8 Significance of the Present Study 9 Research Questions 10 CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY 12 Participants 12 Procedure 13 Intervention 13 Measures 14 Mindfulness 14 Positive Affect and Negative Affect 15 General Health 15 Emotion Management 16 Connectedness 16 Self-Report Prosocial Behaviors 17 Actual Prosocial Behavior 17 Treatment Fidelity 18 Analyses Plan 19 CHAPTER THREE RESULTS 20 Baseline Differences among the Three Groups 20 Treatment Fidelity 20 Skill Completion 20 Clarity of Instruction 23 Mastery of Skills 23 Intraclass Correlation Among Groups Within Condition 24 Manipulation Checks 25 Intervention Effects 26 Effects on Personal Well-Being 27 Positive Affect 27 Negative Affect 29 General Health 31 Emotion Management 32 Effects on Social Well-Being 34 Connectedness 34 Self-Report Prosocial Behaviors 35 Actual Prosocial Behavior 37 Mediation Analyses on Personal Well-Being 38 Positive Affect 39 Negative Affect 40 General Health 41 Mediation Analyses on Social Well-Being 43 Sustainability of Intervention Effects 45 Positive Affect 46 Negative Affect 46 General Health 47 Emotion Management 47 Connectedness 48 Self-Report Prosocial Behaviors 49 CHAPTER FOUR DISCUSSION 50 Effects of the Mindfulness Practice 51 Effects of the Mindfulness Practice with Lovingkindness 54 Psychological Mechanisms of the Effects of Mindfulness and Lovingkindness 57 Beyond the Quantitative Findings 58 Contributions of the Present Study 60 Limitations and Recommendations for Future Research 63 Conclusion 65 REFERENCES 68 APPEDICES 81 Appendix A Assent Form (Student) 81 Appendix B Consent Form (Parent) 83 Appendix C Program Outline (Mindfulness) 85 Appendix D Program Outline (Lovingkindness) 88 Appendix E Program Outline (Study Skills) 91 Appendix F Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire 93 Appendix G Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale 96 Appendix H General Health Questionnaire 98 Appendix I The Emotion Management Subscale of the Trait 99 Meta-Mood Scale Appendix J The Positive Items of the Social Connectedness Scale 100 Appendix K The Prosocial Behaviors Subscale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire 101 Appendix L Actual Prosocial Behavior 102 Appendix M Fidelity Checklist 103 LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Percentage of Participants Who Reported that the 21 Mindfulness Skill Was Completed across the Four Mindfulness Groups Table 2 Percentage of Participants Who Reported that the Skill Was Completed across the Four Lovingkindness Groups 22 Table 3 Percentage of Participants Who Reported that the Skill Was Completed across the Four Study Skills Groups 22 Table 4 Mean Scores on Personal and Social Wellbeing across the Conditions at Pretest and Posttest 28 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Mean scores on mindfulness across the conditions at pretest and posttest. 26 Figure 2 Mean scores on positive affect across the conditions at pretest and posttest. 29 Figure 3 Mean scores on negative affect across the conditions at pretest and posttest. 30 Figure 4 Mean scores on general health across the conditions at pretest and posttest. 32 Figure 5 Mean scores on emotion management across the conditions at pretest an
