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¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person
Evidence quality · No study behind this claim is a peer-reviewed article with a DOI: it rests on a source with no registered publication record (a web page, book or unpublished report). It is kept because 4 design pages cite it; treat it as a lead to check, not an established finding.

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among the intervention approaches reviewed, mindfulness programs in particular showed substantial benefits across both cognitive and emotional regulation, as well as for stress and mental health. → Murray 2017

Evidence¶

Murray 2017¶

Murray, D. W. & Rosanbalm, K. (2017). Promoting Self-Regulation in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Practice Brief. OPRE Report #2015-82. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/resource/self-regulation-and-toxic-stress-implications-for-programs-and-practice

q2 · i? · the article prints no effect size for this finding · review · r2

The brief's summary of its review of preventive self-regulation interventions reports this as one of the headline findings from studies of high schoolers and young adults. The brief defines mindfulness as intentionally focusing attention on one's emotions and thoughts in the present moment without judgment.

"Substantial benefits from mindfulness programs in particular, across both cognitive and emotional regulation, as well as for stress and mental health"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Affect Regulation — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• The evidence base for school mindfulness interventions is promising but too variable for definitive practice recommendations — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• 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 — a broader claim this one bears on
• Social-emotional learning benefits persist at follow-up — related
• Universal school-based SEL programs improve students' behaviour, with a small and, in recent randomised trials, negligible effect on academic achievement — related
• Mindfulness and stress management skills may produce positive effects on educator sleep, self-regulation, self-compassion, and job satisfaction — related
• Mindfulness practices are linked to positive school climate outcomes including compassion, well-being, and self-regulation — related
• Review reports a game-based learning course increased adolescents' empathy and compassion in migration/refugee context — related
• Across all RCTs, mindfulness-based interventions significantly improve mindfulness, executive functioning, attention, depression, anxiety/stress and negative behaviours in youth, with small effect sizes — 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) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• 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
• Mindfulness interventions consisting of combinations of various mindfulness activities show the largest effects on youth mental health and well-being — related
• Studies of emotional training of aspiring and practicing teachers report positive outcomes for dealing with emotions and reducing stress and burnout — 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
• Family-based interventions improved self-regulation in 5 of 9 studies (56%) and had longer follow-up durations than other intervention types. — related
• Some social-emotional and cognitive-behavioural initiatives showed no effect or a negative effect on educator wellbeing — related