The Effects of Mindfulness and Executive Function Skills Trainings in Internationally Adopted Children: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

While children adopted internationally show remarkable recovery once placed in families, as a group these children continue to show delays in certain aspects of development years after adoption (Lawler & Gunnar, 2012). In particular, the area that seems to show the most lasting, and sometimes profound deficits is children’s self-regulation (e.g. Rutter et al., 2010).

 This study uses a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based and executive function trainings on internationally adopted (IA) children’s self-regulation, including inhibitory control, selective attention, and emotion regulation. Executive function is defined as the higher order control of thoughts and behavior. Interventions focused on these skills have demonstrated efficacy in improving children’s regulatory and school-readiness skills (Diamond, 2011). Mindfulness has been defined as an awareness that results from purposeful, non-judgmental, attention to the individual’s moment-to-moment experience (Kabat-Zinn, 2003). Research suggests that mindfulness interventions improve selective attention, impulse control, and internalizing symptoms (Tang & Posner, 2009). As such, mindfulness has been indicated as an ideal intervention to promote self-regulation from both top-down and bottom-up influences (Zelazo & Lyons, 2012).

 IA children ages 6-10 were randomized into Mindfulness training (MT), Executive Function training  (EF), or no intervention (NI) groups. The MT and EF groups attended 12 one-hour group sessions. The mindfulness intervention focused on breath and body awareness, paying attention to the present, compassion, and calming strategies. The EF training was designed to improve children’s capacity to sustain attention, inhibit behaviors, and think flexibly through repeated practice. All participants were tested before and after the intervention period. Assessments included: computerized measures of selective attention, inhibitory control, emotion regulation and delay of gratification, as well as a behavioral measure of inhibitory control, parent questionnaires, experimenter ratings of behavior, a theory of mind task, and prosocial behavior tasks.

 Two waves of the study have been completed. Data from the current wave of 74 children are not yet available, but data from Wave 1 with 27 children show promising results. In the pilot study, children in both intervention groups improved in experimenter rated emotion regulation, (MT: t(9)= 2.27, p< .05; EF: t(9)= 4.0, p< .01), while the no intervention group showed no change (NI: t(6)= .68, ns). The EF group, but not the MT or NI groups, showed improvement on behavioral inhibitory control (EF: t(8)= 2.4, p< .05). The MT group, but not EF or NI groups, showed improvement on parent reported “kindness” (MT: t(9)= 2.45, p< .05).

 Preliminary results indicate that mindfulness and EF trainings show strong potential for improving self-regulation among children exposed to early adversity. As predicted, the mindfulness intervention had greater effects on socioemotional areas while the EF training had a greater influence on inhibitory control. Data from wave 2 will be available for presentation at the 2014 Society for Prevention Research Conference.