A comparison of mental health of Indian and foreign participants in terms of meditation

Pages: 182-187
Nidhi Sharma (Department of Psychology, K. G. Campus, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, Uttarakhand)

The purpose of this study was to compare the mental health of Indian and Foreign participants as an effect of meditation, as a stress management technique. Total 40 participants were assigned randomly and divide them into two groups namely Indian participants (20) and Foreign participants (20). Each group of participants further, bifurcated into males (10) and females (10). In this study we included only those participants who are practicing meditation at least from three months ago and having age between 45-65 years. We administered mental health inventory constructed by Jagdish and Srivastava (1983). The inventory measures mental health in six dimensions such as Positive Self-Evaluation, Perception of Reality, Integration of Personality, Autonomy, Group Oriented Attitude and Environmental Mastery. Data were collected from different meditation centers of Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Dehradun districts of Uttarakhand State. Results showed significant difference between Indian and Foreign participants on all the six dimensions of mental health. Gender of each group did not show any significant difference on any dimension of mental health, however significant difference found between both groups of males as well as females on almost all the dimensions of mental health. Interaction between participants and gender of both the groups found to be significant on the dimension of perception of reality whereas, gender of both groups showed significant difference on all dimensions of mental health.