Mindfulness Training on Negative Emotions/Emotional Instability and Adaptive Emotion Regulation in Students

Background & Objectives: In the pre–pubertal period, socio–emotional development is increasingly essential for educational life; more emotional problems are observed in preadolescence, compared to childhood (9–12 years) and adulthood. Besides, neuroscience concerning the process of growth, revealed that the white matter of the brain increases linearly during the developmental period. This is while the increase in the gray matter of the brain occurs in preadolescence. Therefore, children in this age group demonstrate higher emotional reactions and mood swings, and need to receive more interventions to regulate their emotions, compared to other age groups. One of the newest and most effective methods to improve emotion regulation in children is employing mindfulness therapies. This treatment method, in particular, leads to the development of such capabilities in children. Understanding the mechanisms under the influence of mindfulness on preadolescent emotional processing could help to understand the most critical age of mindfulness–based interventions. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the effects of mindfulness training on negative emotions/emotional instability and adaptive emotion regulation in students. Methods: This was a quasi–experimental study with pretest–posttest and a control group design. This research was performed on fifth–grade elementary school students of education district 11 in Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year of 2018–2019. In total, 24 subjects were selected in a purposive manner based on the inclusion criteria of the study. Next, they were randomly assigned into two groups of experiment and control (n=12/group). The treatment protocol was presented to the experimental group for 12 weeks and the control group remained on the waiting list. The research variables were assessed by Shields and Cicchetti (1997) Emotion Regulation Checklist. The reliability of the Emotion Regulation Checklist was assessed using Cronbach's alpha; i.e., for negative emotions/ emotional instability was brained as 0.96 and for adaptive emotion regulation, it was calculated as 0.83. The construct validity of this test has also been approved by performing confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. The achieved data were analyzed by SPSS using statistics, such as mean, standard deviation, Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, Levene's test, and Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results: The present study findings suggested the effectiveness of children's mindfulness–based therapy, by modifying the pretest effect, for negative emotions/emotional instability (p=0.002). The same effectiveness was detected for adaptive emotion regulation (p=0.003). Conclusion: Children encounter limitations in the areas of the brain involved in cognitive control; thus, they are not always able to regulate their emotions. Such actions involve using complex strategies for top–down brain processes, like cognitive reassessment. However, according to the obtained data, mindfulness training program increased adaptive emotion regulation and decreased negative emotions in the investigated children. Contrary to cognitive reassessment, mindfulness significantly affects the initial stages of the production of emotions. Therefore, mindfulness training could be considered as an effective intervention on negative emotions/emotional instability, and adaptive emotion regulation.