Mindfulness and Mental Health in Schools: Reviewing Interventions for Emotional Regulation and Academic Performance

Abstract

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) attract attention due to their possible contribution to the emotional and cognitive progress of schoolchildren and adolescents. As more and more people realize and worry about the existence of certain mental health issues anxiety, depression, as well as stress developing during the developmental years, schools offer an important setting where the necessary early interventions can take place. This review was intended to discuss the efficacy of school-based MBIs toward emotional control and academic achievement. The search of the databases implemented a systematic search (PRISMA-based) with a 100 percent overlap among PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ERIC, and PsycINFO databases. Articles were considered provided they were on school-based MBIs with students between 5 and 18 and with outcome measures indicating the development of emotional regulation or academic success. Studies were excluded only because they focused on clinical populations or out-of-school settings. In more than 20 studies, the results showed that the MBIs mostly enhanced emotional regulation in students, lowered anxiety and depression, and increased emotional awareness. It has also reported cognitive advantages, including enhanced attention, executive functional capacity, and working memory, especially in children who are aged between 10 and 12. The results however differed in terms of intervention design, intervention duration, mode of delivery, and cultural setting. Other studies that were of smaller samples or shorter periods realized insignificant or no effects. In general, it is possible to note that MBIs have considerable potential for the well-being of students and their academic involvement, yet longitudinal, diverse, and well-designed studies are instrumental in leading to sustainable policy and practice in school systems.