To Study the Effect of Meditation on Affect, Well-Being and Aggression

The present investigation aims to determine the utility of meditation in enhancing positive affect, happiness, health, satisfaction with life, self esteem & well-being, and reducing negative affect, stress, anxiety and aggression. For the purpose of the present study, a total of 100 people, half males and half females, in the age range of 40-50 years (Average Age 44.7 years), have been studied thrice over a period of one year on all the study variables. The subjects have been picked up from the enrolment list of various Meditation Centers in Chandigarh and New Delhi. At the beginning of the study, when the subjects are not involved in any meditational activity, their baseline scores are obtained. Then they are initiated into a meditation program. A second assessment is done after three months period, during which the subjects are involved in meditative activity for five hours each week. Finally the third assessment is done after one year of involvement in the meditative activity, for five hours each week. A comparison is made of all the three assessments to find out if the practice of meditation has made any difference to the subjects. The subjects were assessed on Positive and Negative Affectivity Scale (Watson, 1988), Psychological well being (Ryff&Keyes, 1995), Satisfaction with Life (Diener et al., 1985), Clinical Anxiety Scale (Hudson, 1992), Index of Clinical Stress (Abell,1991), Self rated Perceived Happiness Status rating scale (Fordyce, 1995), Self rated Perceived Health Status rating scale (Blaxter, 1995), Aggression Questionnaire (Buss&Perry,1992), Self Esteem Questionnaire (Rosenberg,1965). For Positive Affect, Satisfaction with Life, dimensions of Psychological Well being, Self esteem, Perceived Happiness and Perceived Health, the baseline mean scores were the lowest followed by the mean scores after 3 months of meditation, and then by the mean scores after 12 months of meditation. This indicates an enhancement of positive emotional and mental states. The trends reversed for Negative Affect, Stress, Anxiety and dimensions of Aggression i.e., the baseline mean scores were the highest followed by the mean scores after 3 months of meditation,and then by theme an scores after 12 months of meditation. This indicates a decrease in negative emotional and mental states. This leads us to an inference that with meditation, the subjects have shown an improvement in the dimensions of positive affective and mental states and have shown a decline in the dimensions of negative affective and mental states.