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Johns Hopkins: Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Benefits Urban Youth
January 19, 2016 -
In January, 2016, the journal
Pediatrics published a study by Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine that evaluated an adapted
mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program to ameliorate the negative
effects of stress and trauma among low-income, minority, middle school public
school students.
Many urban youth experience significant and
unremitting negative stressors, including those associated with community
violence, multigenerational poverty, failing educational systems, substance use,
limited avenues for success, health risks, and trauma. Mindfulness instruction
improves psychological functioning in a variety of adult populations; research
on mindfulness for youth is promising, but has been conducted in limited
populations.
In its study, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
recruited students from two Baltimore City Public Schools. The students were
randomly assigned by grade to receive adapted MBSR or health education (Healthy
Topics [HT]) programs. Self-report survey data were collected at baseline and
post-program. De-identified data were analyzed in the aggregate, comparing MBSR
and HT classes, by using regression modeling.
There were 300 5th to 8th
grade students (mean age: 12 year old) in MBSR and HT classes and provided
survey data. Participants were 50.7% female, 99.7% African American, and 99%
eligible for free lunch. The groups were comparable at baseline. Post-program,
MBSR students had significantly lower levels of somatization, depression,
negative affect, negative coping, rumination, self-hostility, and posttraumatic
symptom severity than those in the HT group.
These findings support the hypothesis that mindfulness instruction
improves psychological functioning and may ameliorate the negative effects of
stress and reduce trauma-associated symptoms among vulnerable urban middle
school students. Additional research is needed to explore psychological, social,
and behavioral outcomes, and mechanisms of mindfulness instruction.
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