Loneliness, Mindfulness, and Academic Achievements: A Moderation Effect

Introduction

The authors of the article Loneliness, Mindfulness, and Academic Achievements: A Moderation Effect among First-Year College Students are Eyal Rosenstreich and Malka Margalit. Both the authors of this article are professors at Tel-Aviv University. They're both known for the article that this review is based off of and many more that typically deal with mindfulness meditation and the effects it can have in certain, or different, aspects. Professor Eyal has a PhD and has done significantly more articles that Professor Malka. The location of the university is in Israel.

The only bias the student could find was the fact that both of the author's works at the Department of Behavioral Science in Israel. The study took place there so the student author feels as if the result may have been a little skewed in the sense that they would probably be tied to the student on some way. She’s feel like since they were so familiar with the location of the study it took place in, that they might have slacked a little and didn't get all the results that they needed for the study to be solid because they were in the comfort of their own “homes”. They also could have handpicked the students that look the loneliest and in doing this they wouldn’t represent the population in the sample that they chose.

Topic

The topic of the study deals with loneliness affecting academic achievement while using mindfulness meditation as a way to counter loneliness. The question is: Does loneliness affect academic achievements? If so, can mindfulness meditation decrease loneliness, therefore, increase academic achievements? There are certain terms we need to define to make this study more comprehendible. Academic achievements is defined by getting high, or in other terms, good grades. The article doesn't specify what determines a “high grade”, but the author is just going to assume A's and B's (100% to 80%) are high grades. Loneliness is when someone feels isolated from their peers, even though their social status says otherwise. Lastly, mindfulness meditation is a process in which one relaxes the mind, making your mind free of judgment and being aware of the world while accepting things for what they are.

Method

First-year students, seventy-three of them, from the behavioral sciences department in Israel at the Peres Academic Center participated in the study. They were split into two groups: the mindfulness meditation group and the control group. Their grades were recorded at the beginning of their first semester at the university and at the end of the school year to determine if the principal question can be answered. Levels of loneliness were measured by giving participants nine statements and having them answer either yes, no, or maybe. They were then recorded. The mindfulness meditation workshop consisted of five 30-minute sessions a week while they were training. They were taught breathing meditation and how to imagine peaceful scenarios so they can continue their sessions on their own time. After the training, the participants were supposed to continue this routine daily for at least fifteen to thirty minutes a day and record how they felt. The control group did not receive any training for mindfulness meditation.

Conclusion

The authors came to the conclusion that the mindfulness meditation group had better grades than the control group. There was a correlation with the people that had lower loneliness scores, or medium scores, who did the mindfulness meditation which resulted in higher grades than those who had a higher loneliness score. People with high loneliness scores didn't differ with their grades, even with the mindfulness meditation. The author's admitted that loneliness scores were only taken before the mindful meditation sessions occurred, but they didn't do it afterwards. The student think that the study overall was a little sloppy. They took the scores of loneliness once and the samples weren’t random. She found it to be bold that the authors did admit that the study itself needed a little work, but that someone else can do it. The author also thought it was a bit aggressive that they didn't have any acknowledgment. It might’ve just be herself, but she found it to be a little rude.

Most of the sources were credible in the sense that they were recent. The least credible sources dated back to 1981-1995. More research has been done on the subject to make it more accurate, which makes the sources more credible. The most recent source was in 2015 making the study more reliable and accurate because it has the most recent sense of our behavior. Our behavior is different now than it was back then, just like our worries are different now. Overall, the sources were credible except for the couple that were older.