Effects of a Brief Mindfulness Curriculum on Self-reported Executive Functioning and Emotion Regulation in Hong Kong Adolescents

Abstract

Social and emotional skills training is important for adolescents, whose stress vulnerability may be exacerbated during academic and social transitions. The present study investigated whether a mindfulness curriculum was an effective school-based universal SEL program when conducted in regular classrooms. In this controlled trial, we recruited from seventh-grade classrooms in a lowest academic tier Hong Kong public school. One hundred fifteen youth with a mean age of 12.4 years were randomized by class to an adapted version of a mindfulness-based SEL program, Learning to BREATHE (L2B; N = 53), consisting of six 70-min sessions, or instruction as usual (IAU; N = 62) during their religion/social studies class. Pre- to posttest change scores in complete and imputed datasets revealed significant between-group differences favoring the L2B group with (1) medium effect sizes for the executive functioning components of emotional control and self-monitoring; and a small effect size for working memory; (2) a small effect size for the internalizing problem component of anxiety/depression; and (3) a small effect size for the rumination component of brooding. There was a pattern of improvement in the L2B group and deterioration in the IAU group on emotional control, working memory, self-monitoring and anxiety/depression, and more of an increase in brooding among IAU than among L2B participants. The intervention served a primarily preventive function during this year of academic transition, promoting resilience among students who learned mindfulness skills. The findings lend support for the benefits of mindfulness-based training as a multitier model for intervention in educational settings.