Neurobehavioural Group Differences in an Indian Holistic Education Context: Mindfulness, Empathy, Values and Personality Across Gender and Academic Pathways.

Background: Holistic education frameworks such as those conceptualising self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-transcendence (S-ART) and the LIBRE/EMC2 model, prioritise the integration of social-emotional-cognitive-spiritual transdisciplinary factors-a focus perennially emphasised in Indian spiritual-philosophical wisdom.

Purpose: The study examines how gender and academic pathways relate to neurobehavioural differences in empathy, values, personality, and mindfulness in Indian university students-a context where these psychosocial, holistic educational factors might be particularly salient.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved a behavioural cohort (Sample 1, n = 580) evaluated on empathy (IRI), values (PVQ-RR), personality (IPIP-BFM-50), and mindfulness (FFMQ-39) traits. A neurobehavioural subset (Sample 2, n = 97) participated in a 50-minute Ānāpānasati meditation, during which their state mindfulness was evaluated through self-report (ARSQ). Eighty-nine participants in Sample 2 completed this intervention while undergoing concurrent electroencephalography (EEG) recording. EEG spectral power (delta, theta, alpha, beta, gamma) was calculated across prefrontal, occipital, and default mode regions, and analysed in relation to state mindfulness, along with significant alpha power-related electrophysiological indices (PAF, COG, F3-F4 Arousal/Valence, Cognitive Workload).

Results: Findings indicated that gender contributed significantly to variance in psychosocial holistic educational traits: females demonstrated higher scores in empathy, agreeableness, and self-transcendence-oriented values, while males showed greater emotional stability and a preference for power-dominance values. The university stream (STEM/non-STEM) and early subject choice (science/math in Grade 12th) demonstrated limited explanatory power, exhibiting small effects for certain trait value dimensions. Notably, there were no differences in EEG oscillatory dynamics measured towards state mindfulness across different academic pathways.

Conclusion: This study suggested a distinct separation: gender significantly predicted trait-level psychosocial variation, except for trait mindfulness, while state mindfulness exhibited universal neurocognitive accessibility across academic pathways. In the Indian educational context, this supports embedding mindfulness practices throughout educational systems as a plausible, equitable strategy for holistic development and integrating social-emotional learning to promote gender-balanced development.