Effects of School-Based Mindfulness and Yoga on Self-Regulation in Urban Youth: Challenges and Opportunities

Background: Exposure to chronic stress and trauma is a public health problem in the U.S., particularly for youth growing up in disadvantaged urban areas. Problems with cognitive and emotion regulation stemming from stress and trauma exposure is a critical factor contributing to the high prevalence of social, emotional, and academic problems among these vulnerable young people. Emerging evidence suggests that mindfulness-based practices may be helpful for urban youth. In an earlier randomized pilot trial, our team found that a mindfulness and yoga intervention improved self regulation in response to stress among urban middle school students. Building on that work, we conducted a randomized trial to evaluate the impact of the intervention for a larger sample of 5^th and 6^th grade students attending urban public schools.

Design/Methods: We recruited 251 5^th and 6^th grade students across six urban schools serving disadvantaged urban communities. Three schools were assigned to receive the 16-week mindfulness and yoga program twice per week; students at the other three schools received standard programming. We evaluated self-reported self-regulation at baseline and post-test. We also conducted focus groups with selected intervention participants.

Results: In contrast to our pilot trail, we did not find a significant difference between the control and intervention students with respect to self-reported self regulation in response to stress. Qualitative data, however, suggest that some youth may have found the program helpful for learning to manage anger and other difficult emotions.

Conclusions: Our findings highlight the complexities in researching school-based mindfulness-based interventions, which include questions regarding intervention dose, measurement of outcomes, and implementation issues. Findings are discussed with reference to key questions and next steps in the field.