Mindfulness for Children and adolescents

Benefits of mindfulness for children and adolescents based on recent research:

• Reduction in behavioral and anger management problems (Lee, Semple, Rosa, & Miller, 2008).

• Reduced anxiety in those that had elevated anxiety at pretest (Lee, Semple, Rosa, & Miller, 2008).

• Learning to BREATHE (L2B) program delivered in Wisconsin school shows fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and students were more foucsed and able to deal with stressful situations. Reports showed students became more aware of helpful and unhelpful thoughts and actions. (Broderick, 2011).

• Fourth- through sixth-graders who participated in seventy-five minutes of mindfulness training for 8 weeks had decreased anxiety and shared written naratives that indicated they expriences decreased emotional reactivity, increased focus, and abiliy to deal with challenges. (Goldin, Saltzman, & Jha, 2008).

• Mindfulness and relaxation program showed significant increases in attention, decrease in anxiety and ADHD behavior, and increase in executive function. (Napoli, 2005).

• A randomized controlled trial of the Mindful Schools curriculum to 915 elementary school children in the high-crime areas of Oakland found that after four hours of mindfulness training the students demonstrated an increase in their abilities to pay attention and self-calm, and show care for others, as well as an increase in social compliance (Mindful Schools, n.d.).

• Promoting prosocial behavior in preschool (Flook, Goldberg, Pinger, & Davidson, 2014).

Adolescents

• In a feasibility study, which offered mindful awareness practices and psychoeducation to a mixed group of adults and adolescents with ADHD, combined population findings included improvements in self-reported ADHD symptoms, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and working memory (Zylowska et al., 2008).

• In a study of thirty-two adolescents with learning disabilities (LD) at a private residential school, participants were led in mindfulness meditation for five to ten minutes at the beginning of each class period, five days per week, for five consecutive weeks, by two classroom teachers. Students’ self-reports revealed decreased state (short-term) and trait (long-term) anxiety. Teacher ratings showed improvements of students’ social skills and academics, and decreases in problem behaviors (Beauchemin, Hutchins, & Patterson, 2008).

• A study using mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with a clinical population of fourteen adolescents, eleven to eighteen years of age, found improvements in sustained attention, self-reported behavior, personal goals, subjective happiness, and mindful awareness (Bogels, Hoogstad, van Dun, De Shutter, & Restifo, 2008).

• In a study of a nine-week MBSR program for thirty-three urban youth, age thirteen to twenty-one, 79 percent of the youth attended the majority of the MBSR sessions and were considered “program completers.” Among program completers, eleven were HIV-infected, 77 percent were female, and all were African American. Quantitative data show that, following the MBSR program, participants had a significant reduction in hostility, general discomfort, and emotional discomfort. Qualitative data show perceived improvements in interpersonal relationships (including less conflict), school achievement, physical health, and reduced stress. Interview data from an HIV-infected sub-group revealed improved attitude, behavior, and self-care (including medication adherence), and decreased reactivity (Sibinga et al., 2008), with transformative experiences of variable levels described by all participants (Kerrigan et al, 2011).

• When compared to 30 control students, 120 senior high school girls who participated in the mindfulness curriculum, Learning to BREATHE (L2B mentioned previously) experienced reductions in negative affect, tiredness, aches and pains and increases in emotion regulation, feelings of calmness, relaxation, and self-acceptance. The students who participated in L2B were more able to recognize their emotions and more able to label them. They reported that the greatest overall advantage for them was the ability to let go of distressing thoughts and feelings. (Broderick & Metz, 2009).

• In a randomized controlled trial, 102 adolescents participated in a mindfulness course for two hours a week for eight weeks. The teens reported reductions in perceived stress; symptoms of anxiety, depression, and somatic (physical) distress and interpersonal problems; and increased self-esteem and sleep quality. Independent clinicians documented a higher percentage of diagnostic improvement and significant increases in global assessment of functioning scores in the mindfulness group (versus the control group). In layperson’s terms, this means that adolescents who were initially diagnosed as clinically depressed and anxious no longer met clinical criteria for depression or anxiety (Biegel, 2009). Further analysis found that statistically significant increases in mindfulness were present and were significantly related to positive changes in mental health (Brown, 2011).

• Before a randomized controlled trial with 400 students in five middle schools in Flanders, Belgium, both the mindfulness group (21%) and the control group (24%) had a similar percentage of students reporting evidence of depression. After the eight weekly 100-minute mindfulness sessions, the number of students with symptoms of depression was significantly lower in the mindfulness group: 15% versus 27% in the control group. This difference persisted six months after the training, when 16% of the intervention group versus 31% of the control group reported evidence of depression. The results suggest that mindfulness can lead to a decrease in symptoms associated with depression and, moreover, that it protects against the later development of depression-like symptoms (Raes, Griffith, Van der Gucht, & Williams, 2013).

* This information was shared in a closing keynote talk, "Minduflness for Youth: Emerging of a Unified Field," by Dr. Amy Saltzman at the 2014 Bridging and Minds of Youth Conference in San Diego.