Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Prevalence And Predictors Of Meditation Use Among U.S. Adults: A Nationally Representative Survey (#654)

Angelina M Leigh 1 , Saeideh Heshmati 1
  1. Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA, United States

Publication count for scientific studies on meditation has risen from nearly zero in 1970 to over 1100 in 2016 (Davidson, 2017). However, little is known about the prevalence and predictors of meditation use in the U.S. population. To explore what combinations of age, sex, ethnicity, and region form the strongest predictors of meditation in the U.S., this study analyzes secondary data from the 2017 National Health Interview Survey’s (n = 26742) (NHIS). In this dataset, we categorize “Meditators” as those who responded “yes” to practicing any of the following meditations in the past 12 months: mantra, spiritual, or mindfulness. Using multiple logistic regression we will report on 1) prevalence of “Meditators” and 2) the demographic characteristics that most strongly predict meditating in the U.S. Understanding characteristics of meditators and non-meditators and predictors of meditating in the U.S. population have potential implications for clinical practice and targets for meditation training and education.