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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Mindfulness (N Y). 2017 Oct 23;9(3):708–724. doi: 10.1007/s12671-017-0841-8

Table 1.

Summary of Characteristics of Included Studies

Sample
Total N (Mean; Range) 1,714 (66; 29 – 125)
 Gender, mean percent 69%
 Race, mean percent 68%
Adult studies 22
 Age, M (SD), Range 30.58 (10.33), 19 – 48 years
 Non-clinical community samples, N 11
 College students, N 5
 Other, N 6
Child studies 4
 Age, M (SD), Range 6.28 (3.45), 4 – 10 years
 Conducted in a school setting, N 4
Meditation experience, N
 None 14
 Experienced meditators 3
 Did not specify 9

Meditation Intervention
Meditation type, N
 LKM or CM 10
 Combined mindfulness and LKM or CM 8 (2 of these included yoga)
 Mindfulness compared to LKM or CM 2
 Primarily mindfulness 2
 Other or did not specify 4
Intervention format, N
 Group format 17
 Individual format (audio recordings) 5
 Both or not specified 4
Intervention duration, N
 8–12 weeks 13
 4–6 weeks 5
 Other or not reported 8
Recommended at-home practice, N 8 (typically 20 minutes/day)

Control Group
Wait-list or no-intervention, N 15
Active control groups, N 5
Both active and inactive, N 6
Type of active controls, N
 Education 5
 Cognitive tasks (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) 4
 Group discussion 2

Outcome Measures
Subjective/self-reported, N 12
Objective/observable, N 7
Both subjective and objective, N 7
Validated self-report measures, N 15
Type of objective measure, N
 Non-conscious or automatic responding 6
 Computerized donation tasks 3
 Real-time helping behavior 3
 Peer-rated pro-sociality 3

Note. 26 studies were included. Gender and race are based on n=13 studies because the other 13 did not report these demographics. Type of objective outcomes sum higher than 14 because one study used two types of objective outcomes.