Quality of Life and Functional Health Status of Long-Term Meditators

Table 1

Demographics of meditation practitioners.

Factor	Meditation practitioners*
Number of responses	343
% Male	39.6
Mean age and age range	44, (SD 13.4), range 18 yrs to 82 yrs
% Caucasian	77.2
% Asian	21.9
% Single/never married/divorced/widow	27
% Married/de facto	73
High school, highest level	25.9
Undergraduate, highest level	49.4
Postgraduate, highest level	21.2
No history of mental illness	87.9
History of minor mental illness	10.4
History of major mental illness	1.7

*In comparison, the National Health Survey in 1995 was weighted to population norms with the SF36 administered to only the household members aged 18 years or more. The mean age was 42.6 (SD 16.5) with 48% male.