A Study to Assess the Effectiveness of Mindfulness on Stress Among Adolescents in Selected School, Erode

Stress has become an inevitable part of daily life, particularly during adolescence—a critical developmental stage marked by various emotional, academic, and social stressors. Globally, studies have reported that adolescent stress levels range from 20% to 45%. The aim of the present study was to assess the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation in reducing stress among adolescents. A pre-experimental one-group pre-test and post-test design was adopted for this purpose. The study was conducted at Municipal Higher Secondary School, Karungalpalayam, Erode, among thirty adolescents who met the inclusion criteria. Participants were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The inclusion criteria comprised adolescents aged between 13 and 15 years, studying in 9th and 10th standard, of both genders, and scoring more than 40 on the Stress Questionnaire Scale (SQS). A pre-test was conducted using the SQS to assess the baseline level of stress. Mindfulness meditation was then administered for 30 minutes daily over a period of seven days. A post-test was conducted using the same tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The demographic data revealed that most participants were male, Hindu, resided in urban areas, attended school six days per week with eight-hour school days, engaged in four hours of classroom study, and participated in outdoor games and other extracurricular activities. The highest pre-test mean score was 23.1 ± 0.45 (58%), whereas the post-test mean score was 20.6 ± 1.1 (52%), indicating a 6% reduction in stress levels. The overall pre-test mean score was 44.6 ± 1.01 (56%). The paired t-test value was 6.13, which is greater than the critical table value of 1.671, indicating a statistically significant reduction in stress levels after the intervention. Conclusion : The study concluded that mindfulness meditation was effective in reducing stress among adolescents and can be considered a useful of non-pharmacological approach to be adopted for stress management in school based settings.