Abstract
Research suggested that developing mindfulness skills in children improves proximal outcomes, such as attention and executive functions, as well as distal outcomes, such as academic achievement. Despite empirical evidence supporting this claim, research on the benefits of mindfulness training in child populations is scarce, with some mixed findings in the field. Here, we aimed to fill in this gap, by examining the effects of a mindfulness training on third graders’ proximal and distal outcomes, namely, attention and executive functions (viz., inhibitory control, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) as well as literacy-related achievement (viz., handwriting fluency, text quality, Portuguese grades). These outcomes were measured with behavioral tasks and teacher ratings. Sixty-six Portuguese children were randomly allocated to an experimental group receiving mindfulness training (n = 29) or an active control group receiving relaxation training (n = 37). Both training programs were implemented by psychologists in two 30-min weekly sessions for 8 weeks. All students were assessed before and after the interventions. Three main findings are noteworthy: (a) mindfulness training enhanced teacher-rated cognitive flexibility and a performance-based composite score of executive functions among children with higher pretest scores; (b) relaxation training improved performance-based cognitive flexibility and the composite score of executive functions among children with lower pretest scores; (c) children receiving mindfulness training had higher handwriting fluency and better grades in Portuguese than those receiving relaxation training. These findings provide preliminary evidence on the benefits of mindfulness training in educational settings and highlight the moderating role of baseline performance on those benefits.
Highlights
Mindfulness skills enable individuals to focus on the present moment with a non-judgmental and acceptance attitude toward the experience they are currently living (Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Hooker and Fodor, 2008)
We examined the impact of an 8-h mindfulness intervention on the proximal outcomes of attention and executive functions (EFs), and on the distal outcomes of literacyrelated achievement
Mindfulness Grounded on past studies (e.g., Viafora et al, 2015; Thomas and Atkinson, 2016) and on a literature review, in which we identified the most effective mindfulness activities (Magalhães et al, 2019), we developed a program organized into three components: calming the mind; consciously attending to internal and external stimuli; and dealing with negative emotions and thoughts
Summary
Mindfulness skills enable individuals to focus on the present moment with a non-judgmental and acceptance attitude toward the experience they are currently living (Kabat-Zinn, 2003; Hooker and Fodor, 2008). According to Diamond (2013), EFs include working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility Together with attention, these skills are critical to achieve success in school (Mulder and Cragg, 2014), and considered proximal outcomes of mindfulness-based interventions (Lyons and DeLange, 2016; Takacs and Kassai, 2019). Other child studies found a positive impact of mindfulness-based interventions in specific components of EFs, such as enhanced selective attention skills (Napoli et al, 2005; Felver et al, 2014) and higher working memory capacity (Ricarte et al, 2015), as well as improved inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility (Janz et al, 2019). Findings are not consensual, with other studies reporting no mindfulness benefits on attention or EFs (Mak et al, 2017), including in adults (Semple, 2010; Josefsson et al, 2014)
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