The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Intervention on Children's Attention Regulation.


Author: Felver JC1, Tipsord JM2, Morris MJ3, Racer KH2, Dishion TJ4.

Affiliation: 1Brown University, Providence, RI, USA University of Oregon, Eugene, USA joshua_felver@brown.edu. 2University of Oregon, Eugene, USA. 3University of Oregon, Eugene, USA Portland State University, OR, USA. 4University of Oregon, Eugene, USA Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA.
Conference/Journal: J Atten Disord. 
Date published: 2014 Aug 29
Other:
  Pages: 1087054714548032   ,  Word Count: 156  
    

OBJECTIVE:

This article describes results from a randomized clinical trial of a mindfulness-based intervention for parents and children, Mindful Family Stress Reduction, on a behavioral measure of attention in youths, the Attention Network Task (ANT).

METHOD:

Forty-one parent-child dyads were randomly assigned to either the mindfulness-based intervention condition or a wait-list control. School-age youths completed the ANT before and after the intervention.

RESULTS:

Results demonstrate significant, medium-size (f 2 = -.16) intervention effects to the conflict monitoring subsystem of the ANT such that those in the intervention condition decreased in conflict monitoring more than those in the wait-list control. Youths in the intervention condition also showed improvements in their orienting subsystem scores, compared with controls.

CONCLUSION:

Mindfulness-based interventions for youths have potential utility to improve attentional self-regulation, and future research should consider incorporating measures of attention into interventions that use mindfulness training.

© 2014 SAGE Publications.

KEYWORDS:

Attention Network Test; Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; children; family; mindfulness; randomized controlled trial



PMID: 25172884