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Table 2 Prevalence of meditation use by select user characteristics, exclusive use of one practice during previous 12 months1

From: Prevalence and patterns of use of mantra, mindfulness and spiritual meditation among adults in the United States

 

n 3

Mantra

n

Mindfulness

n

Spiritual2

Age-adjusted Percent (SE)

Age-adjusted Percent (SE)

Age-adjusted Percent (SE)

Exclusive use

122

0.33 (0.04)

151

0.44 (0.49)

498

1.48 (0.09)

Estimated use (1000s)

740

 

998

 

3359

 

Demographics

Age4

 18–24

9

†

22

0.52 (0.14)a

40

1.02 (0.23)a

 25–44

45

0.37 (0.06)a

67

0.50 (0.08)a

161

1.44 (0.15)a

 45–64

54

0.37(0.06)a

53

0.51 (0.10)a

218

1.87 (0.16)b

 65 or above

14

0.21 (0.07)a‡

9

0.13 (0.05)b‡

79

1.14 (0.18)a

Gender

 Male

41

0.25 (0.05)a

54

0.36 (0.07)a

152

1.04 (0.12)a

 Female

81

0.40 (0.06)b

97

0.52 (0.08)a

346

1.89 (0.13)b

Race5

 White

106

0.36 (0.05)a

125

0.49 (0.06)a

394

1.56 (0.11)a

 Black

6

†

10

0.16 (0.06)b‡

71

1.27 (0.19)a,b

 Asian

9

0.24 (0.09)a‡

9

0.31 (0.10)a,b

22

0.86 (0.19)b

 AIAN/multiple race

1

†

6

0.56 (0.24)a,b‡

10

1.43 (0.49)a,b‡

Ethnicity

 Hispanic

11

0.18 (0.06)a

14

0.20 (0.07)a

51

0.95 (0.19)a

 Non-Hispanic

111

0.35 (0.05)b

137

0.49 (0.06)b

447

1.59 (0.10)b

Education

 Less than 12 years

7

†

4

†

19

0.40 (0.12)a

 High school graduate

14

0.10 (0.03)a

19

0.19 (0.06)a

72

0.85 (0.13)b

 Some college

25

0.35 (0.09)b

27

0.32 (0.08)a

109

1.68 (0.20)c

 College graduate

76

0.48 (0.07)b

101

0.73 (0.10)b

297

2.23 (0.17)d

Marital status

 Never married

34

0.61 (0.15)a

50

0.41 (0.87)a

132

1.87 (0.24)a

 Married

57

0.29 (0.50)b

54

0.35 (0.06)a

201

1.30 (0.13)b

 Cohabitating

7

0.20 (0.07)b‡

13

0.49 (0.17)a

22

1.09 (0.27)b

 Divorced or separated

18

0.22 (0.06)b

29

0.45 (0.09)a

113

1.96 (0.28)a

 Widowed

6

†

5

†

29

1.27 (0.55)a,b

Family income6

 $0–34,999

42

0.33 (0.06)a

50

0.34 (0.08)a

190

1.37 (0.12)a

 $35,000–54,999

40

0.31 (0.06)a

47

0.38 (0.07)a

154

1.52 (0.16)a

 $75,000 or more

40

0.37 (0.08)a

54

0.55 (0.11)a

154

1.61 (0.18)a

Region

 Northeast

28

0.43 (0.10)a,b

25

0.41 (0.10)a

94

1.53 (0.19)a,b

 Midwest

20

0.30 (0.09)a,b

28

0.40 (0.09)a

113

1.77 (0.24)a

 South

26

0.22 (0.05)a

25

0.17 (0.06)b‡

139

1.19 (0.14)b

 West

48

0.46 (0.10)b

73

0.93 (0.16)c

152

1.63 (0.17)a

Health Behaviors

Physical activity

 Never

37

0.21 (0.04)a

33

0.24 (0.07)a

135

0.99 (0.11)a

 Some/per week

60

0.41 (0.07)b

89

0.60 (0.08)b

250

1.84 (0.16)b

 Regular/per day

23

0.42 (0.10)b

25

0.53 (0.14)a,b

105

1.96 (0.24)b

Alcohol consumption

 Lifetime abstainer

6

0.04 (0.02)a‡

8

0.10 (0.04)a‡

75

1.09 (0.18)a

 Former drinker

12

0.16 (0.06)b‡

11

†

86

2.01 (0.28)b

 Current infrequent

74

0.48 (0.07)c

75

0.52 (0.07)b

232

1.54 (0.14)a,b

 Current mod/heavy

30

0.37 (0.85)c

56

0.74 (0.13)b

102

1.59 (0.22)a,b

Cigarette smoking

 Never smoker

71

0.34 (0.05)a

80

0.42 (0.06)a

260

1.33 (0.11)a

 Former smoker

26

0.29 (0.06)a

36

0.43 (0.10)a

138

2.11 (0.28)b

 Current smoker

25

0.33 (0.08)a

34

0.40 (0.10)a

100

1.34 (0.18)a

Cholesterol check

 Yes

42

0.39 (0.06)a

59

0.46 (0.07)a

155

1.49 (0.12)a

 No

80

0.28 (0.06)a

92

0.42 (0.08)a

339

1.21 (0.13)a

Flu shot

 Yes

76

0.32 (0.06)a

101

0.46 (0.09)a

303

1.65 (0.16)a

 No

46

0.34 (0.05)a

50

0.43 (0.05)a

195

1.39 (0.10)a

CAM Use, 12 Months

Chiropractor

 Yes

97

0.72 (0.17)a

133

0.43 (0.12)a

406

3.09 (0.43)a

 No

25

0.29 (0.04)b

18

0.44 (0.05)a

91

1.32 (0.09)b

Acupuncture

 Yes

107

3.11 (1.12)a

142

2.29 (0.72)a

476

3.41 (0.93)a

 No

15

0.29 (0.04)b

9

0.42 (0.72)b

22

1.45 (0.09)b

Yoga

 Yes

64

1.94 (0.24)a

68

2.79 (0.39)a

350

4.82 (1.16)a

 No

58

0.18 (0.03)b

82

0.20 (0.03)b

148

1.40 (0.09)b

Vegetarian diet

 Yes

109

1.43 (0.51)a

132

2.72 (0.78)a

458

6.11 (1.13)a

 No

12

0.30 (0.04)b

18

0.39 (0.05)b

40

1.40 (0.09)b

Health Status

Health status

 Poor/fair

16

0.32 (0.12)a‡

22

0.46 (0.14)a

77

1.52 (0.24)a

 Good/very/excellent

106

0.33 (0.04)a

129

0.44 (0.05)a

420

1.48 (0.10)a

Body weight status

 Underweight/healthy

47

0.34 (0.07)a

71

0.67 (0.11)a

177

1.50 (0.14)a

 Overweight

34

0.25 (0.05)a

47

0.43 (0.08)a,b

158

1.48 (0.15)a

 Obese

39

0.37 (0.09)a

29

0.23 (0.07)b

158

1.46 (0.14)a

Functional limits

 Not limited

56

0.27 (0.04)a

63

0.40 (0.06)a

239

1.19 (0.09)b

 Limited

66

0.46 (0.08)a

88

0.58 (0.12)a

259

2.23 (0.22)a

Back pain

 Yes

70

0.47 (0.08)a

94

0.50 (0.09)a

282

2.18 (0.18)a

 No

52

0.26 (0.04)b

57

0.42 (0.06)a

216

1.23 (0.10)b

Depression, 12 months

 Yes

92

0.69 (0.15)a

117

0.87 (0.20)a

379

3.10 (0.35)a

 No

30

0.28 (0.04)b

34

0.39 (0.05)b

118

1.30 (0.09)b

ER visits, 12 months

 0 visit

89

0.29 (0.04)a

119

0.43 (0.05)a

377

1.44 (0.10)a

 1 visit

21

0.57 (0.14)a

23

0.59 (0.18)a

68

1.54 (0.24)a

 2–3 visits

10

0.40 (0.13)a

7

0.19 (0.08)b‡

41

1.84 (0.36)a

 4 or More Visits

2

†

2

†

12

2.69 (0.97)a

Hospitalized, 12 Months

 Yes

106

0.46 (0.13)a

141

0.26 (0.11)a‡

448

1.43 (0.26)a

 No

16

0.31 (0.04)a

10

0.46 (0.05)a

49

1.49 (0.10)a

Healthcare Access

Usual place of care

 Yes

16

0.35 (0.04)a

28

0.45 (0.54)a

64

1.55 (0.10)a

 No

106

0.21 (0.08)a

123

0.35 (0.09)a

434

1.14 (0.20)a

Health insurance

 Uninsured

17

0.17 (0.05)a

21

0.29 (0.08)a

73

1.41 (0.29)a

 Public

50

0.53 (0.11)b

49

0.49 (0.10)a

187

1.41 (0.16)a

 Private

55

0.29 (0.05)a,b

81

0.47 (0.07)a

236

1.52 (0.15)a

Office visits, 12 months

 0 visit

15

0.12 (0.04)a‡

20

0.17 (0.04)a

49

0.73 (0.14)a

 1–3 visits

39

0.23 (0.05)a,b

59

0.45 (0.07)b

170

1.28 (0.13)b

 4–9 visits

31

0.44 (0.13)b,c

33

0.39 (0.11)a,b

155

2.02 (0.21)c

 10 or more visits

37

0.81 (0.16)c

39

1.01 (0.22)c

124

2.56 (0.29)c

  1. 1Age adjusted by using the projected 2000 US population as the standard population with the following age groups: 18–24, 25–44, 45–64, ≥65
  2. 2Spiritual meditation prevalence is significantly higher than mantra and mindfulness meditation across most variables, except for age 18–24, AIAN/multiple race, and acupuncture use
  3. 3n reflects the count at each category from the sample data
  4. 4Age categories were not standardized to the 2000 population
  5. 5Race category “not releasable” were not displayed due to small sample size
  6. 6Estimates were generated using the first imputed income file
  7. †Estimates with a relative S.E. >50% are not shown
  8. ‡Estimates with a relative S.E. >30% but ≤50% unstable because of the small sample size
  9. a,b,c,d Within-group comparisons were performed across all nominal variables within each meditation type, α = 0.05 was used for all comparisons. Different superscript letters represent a statistically significant difference between the within-group categories compared, and same superscript letters indicate no statistical difference.
  10. AIAN American Indian and Alaska Native
  11. ER Emergency Room
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