The Effect of Mindfulness Meditation and Lovingkindness Meditation on Academic Performance Among Female At-Risk High School Students

Academic failure and dropping out of school are problems not only for school districts but also for the United States economy, as school dropouts cost the U.S. 300 billion dollars per year. Finding a cost-effective school-based intervention to enhance academic performance, therefore, is essential. Meditation has been found to improve academic performance as well as overall well-being as explained through the mindfulness model and broaden-and-build theory. This quantitative study attempted to discover if mindfulness meditation and lovingkindness meditation increased academic performance among at-risk high school girls. A repeated measures, pretest posttest, matched-pairs control group design was used to compare academic grades, school attendance, and school behavioral referrals of at-risk girls before and after attending a 9-week meditation group employing both mindfulness meditation (focusing on the present moment) and lovingkindness meditation (focusing on visualizations inducing positive emotions). Results indicated that academic grades, credits earned, and number of tardy class periods improved with meditation from pre- to post-test measures versus those variables for the control group, but these results were not significant. Both the meditation group and control group's absences increased from pre- to post-test measures, while the number of behavior referrals for both groups decreased from pre- to post-test measures. Future researchers may need to study daily meditation over a longer period of time for a better understanding of its affects on academic performance. This research can enhance positive social change as an inexpensive school-based dropout prevention program, improving all schools, the U.S. economy, and the overall well-being of students.