Happiness, Gratitude and Anger among Vipassanā Meditators and Non-Meditators

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to explore how vipassana meditators and non-meditators differ in happiness, gratitude and anger. Young adults (n=120) with age ranging from 25 to 35 years equally divided into three groups viz. beginner meditators, experienced meditators and non-meditators were selected for the study. They were administered Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Hills and Argyle, 2002); Gratitude Questionnaire (McCullough, 2002) and Clinical Anger Scale (Snell, 2013). The difference between the groups was analyzed by using One Way ANOVAwith bonferroni post hoc correction test.Results showed that there was significant difference among beginner meditators, experienced meditators and non-meditators on mean scores of happiness [F (2, 117) = 32.22, p<.01], gratitude [F (2, 117) = 15.99, p<.01] and anger [F (2, 117) = 5.10, p<.01].Bonferroni post hoc correction test showed that mean scores in happiness among non-meditators (M = 106.18, SD = 18.17), beginner meditators (M = 127.83, SD = 15.821) and experienced meditators (M = 138.20, SD = 16.73) were significantly different. Also the mean scores in gratitude among non-meditators (M = 30.63, SD = 6.28), beginner meditators (M = 34.25, SD = 7.00) and experienced meditators (M = 38.33, SD = 4.76) were significantly different. Whereas, the mean score in anger among nonmeditators (M = 106.18, SD = 18.17), beginner meditators (M = 127.83, SD = 15.82) and experienced meditators (M = 138.20, SD =16.73) were not significantly different. However, the mean scores in anger among non-meditators and experienced meditators were significantly different.