Across all RCTs, mindfulness-based interventions significantly improve mindfulness, executive functioning, attention, depression, anxiety/stress and negative behaviours in youth, with small effect sizes¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r3 · q3 · i0 negligible
Currency · newest study 2019 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i0 Across all 33 RCTs, MBI participants improved significantly more than controls on Mindfulness, Executive Functions, Attention, Depression, Anxiety/Stress and Negative Behaviours, with small effect sizes ranging from .16 to .30 (overall d = .19 across all measures). → Dunning 2019

Evidence¶

Dunning 2019¶

Dunning, D. L., Griffiths, K., Kuyken, W., Crane, C., Foulkes, L., Parker, J., & Dalgleish, T. (2019). Research Review: The effects of mindfulness-based interventions on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents – a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12980

q3 · i0 · overall d = .19 · quant-synthesis · r3

Random effects meta-analysis of 33 RCTs including 3,666 children and adolescents, with outcomes categorized into cognitive, behavioural and emotional factors. The review reports "significant positive effects of MBIs, relative to controls" with small Cohen's d values ranging from .16 to .30 across the significant categories; the overall effect across all measures is d = .19 (95% CI .14 to .23; Table 1).

"Across all RCTs we found significant positive effects of MBIs, relative to controls, for the outcome categories of Mindfulness, Executive Functioning, Attention, Depression, Anxiety/Stress and Negative Behaviours, with small effect sizes (Cohen’s d), ranging from .16 to .30."

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Can a mindfulness or cognitive-training programme improve learners' attention itself? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 4 narrower claims that bear on it: 3 distinct studies (3 quant-synthesis), q3–q4, 3 of 3 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Attention — outcome: instruction changes it
• Executive Function — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• CCT shows no significant effects on executive functions or attention in healthy older adults — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Age significantly moderates MBI effects on executive functions across all RCTs (larger benefits with older age) and on negative behaviour in active-control RCTs (larger benefits with younger age) — related
• Effect sizes vary by control group type, with wait-list controls yielding the largest mean effect and no-contact controls the smallest — related
• When only RCTs with active control groups are analysed, MBI benefits are restricted to Mindfulness (d = .42), Depression (d = .47) and Anxiety/Stress (d = .18) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Publication bias is evident for Negative Behaviour and Anxiety/Stress across all RCTs and for Mindfulness in active-control RCTs, suggesting overestimation of MBI effects — related
• Total training hours significantly moderate MBI effects on negative behaviour across all RCTs, with more hours associated with larger reductions — related
• A practice brief reviewing self-regulation interventions reports substantial benefits of mindfulness programs for cognitive and emotional regulation, stress and mental health in adolescents and young adults — a broader claim this one bears on
• The evidence base for school mindfulness interventions is promising but too variable for definitive practice recommendations — related
• Mindfulness interventions consisting of combinations of various mindfulness activities show the largest effects on youth mental health and well-being — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Mindfulness interventions in schools show the largest between-group effects for cognitive performance (g = 0.80) and smaller significant effects for stress (g = 0.39) and resilience (g = 0.36) — reports the opposite
• Mindfulness interventions delivered during late adolescence (15–18) show the largest effects on youth mental health and well-being outcomes — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• School-based mindfulness interventions produce small-to-moderate significant pre-post improvements in youth mental health and well-being compared to control groups — related
• Mindfulness and yoga interventions improved self-regulation in 4 of 8 interventions (50%), mostly applied within the adolescent age group. — related
• School meditation programmes foster small improvements in well-being, more consistently reducing negative outcomes than promoting positive ones — related
• School meditation studies show significant improvements in emotional regulation, including reduced involuntary stress responses and behavioural dysregulation — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• School meditation studies show significant improvements on several cognitive functioning measures, though effects vary by measure and study — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The mindfulness interventions did not significantly change anticipatory or executive state-MA relative to cognitive support alone — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Cognitive-only coaching increased deep and achieving learning approaches, academic self-concept, and reduced test anxiety and anxiety/depression, but academic performance declined relative to control; behavioural-only coaching decreased test anxiety and increased academic performance with no other effects. — related
• Interventions with high schoolers and young adults show strong consistent improvement in cognitive regulation and small but significant improvements in health, mental health, and delinquency — related
• Some social-emotional and cognitive-behavioural initiatives showed no effect or a negative effect on educator wellbeing — related
• Population-level surveys indicate adolescent digital regulation failures are not rare — related