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Can the Academic and Experiential Study of Flourishing Improve Flourishing in College Students? A Multi-university Study

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Abstract

Objectives

Significant concerns have been raised about the “mental health crisis” on college campuses, with attention turning to what colleges can do beyond counseling services to address students’ mental health and well-being. We examined whether primarily first-year (89.1%) undergraduate students (n = 651) who enrolled in the Art and Science of Human Flourishing (ASHF), a novel academic and experiential for-credit elective course on human flourishing, would demonstrate improved mental health and strengthen skills, perspectives, and behaviors associated with flourishing relative to students who did not enroll in this course.

Methods

In a two-wave, multi-site, propensity-score matched controlled trial (ASHF n = 217, control n = 434; N = 651), we used hierarchal linear models and false discovery rate corrected doubly robust estimates to evaluate the impact of the ASHF on attention and social-emotional skill development, flourishing perspectives, mental health, health, and risk behavior outcomes.

Results

ASHF participants reported significantly improved mental health (i.e., reduced depression) and flourishing, improvements on multiple attention and social-emotional skills (e.g., attention function, self-compassion), and increases in prosocial attitudes (empathic concern, shared humanity; Cohen’s ds = 0.18–0.46) compared to controls. There was no evidence for ASHF course impacts on health or risk behaviors, raising the possibility that these outcomes take more time to change.

Conclusions

This research provides initial evidence that the ASHF course may be a promising curricular approach to reduce and potentially prevent poor mental health while promoting flourishing in college students. Continued research is needed to confirm these conclusions.

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Data Availability

Due to complications arising from multiple ethics boards, the data involved in this study cannot be made publicly available.

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Funding

This study was supported by generous individual donations to the Center for Healthy Minds, a 2019 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral fellowship (first author), the Bennett Pierce Chair in Care and Compassion (last author), and the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Healthy Minds, University of WI–Madison, 625 W. Washington Ave, Madison, WI, 53703, USA

    Matthew J. Hirshberg, Richard J. Davidson & John D. Dunne

  2. The Pennsylvania State University, Human Development and Family Studies, HHD Building, University Park, State College, PA, 16801, USA

    Blake A. Colaianne, Mark T. Greenberg & Robert W. Roeser

  3. University of Virginia, School of Education and Human Development, 405 Emmet St S, Charlottesville, VA, 22904, USA

    Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas

  4. Contemplative Sciences Center, University of Virginia, 102 Cresap Rd, Charlottesville, VA, 22903, USA

    Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas & David Germano

Authors
  1. Matthew J. Hirshberg
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  2. Blake A. Colaianne
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  3. Mark T. Greenberg
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  4. Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas
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  5. Richard J. Davidson
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  6. David Germano
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  7. John D. Dunne
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  8. Robert W. Roeser
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Contributions

MJH: designed and executed the study, led the data analyses, and wrote the paper. BAC: designed and executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study. MTG: designed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study. KKI: designed and executed the study, and collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study. RJD: designed the study, provided research infrastructure, and collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study. DG: provided research infrastructure and collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study. JDD: collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study. RWR: designed and executed the study, assisted with the data analyses, and collaborated in the final writing and editing of the study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew J. Hirshberg.

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Ethics Approval

The institutional review boards of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Virginia each approved the research described in this article. In addition, a certificate of confidentiality was obtained to protect participant privacy.

Informed Consent

All participants provided written informed consent before study activities commenced.

Conflict of Interest

Richard J. Davidson is the founder, president, and serves on the board of directors for the non-profit organization, Healthy Minds Innovations, Inc. No donors, either anonymous or identified, have participated in the design, conduct, or reporting of research results in this manuscript.

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Hirshberg, M.J., Colaianne, B.A., Greenberg, M.T. et al. Can the Academic and Experiential Study of Flourishing Improve Flourishing in College Students? A Multi-university Study. Mindfulness 13, 2243–2256 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01952-1

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