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Mindfulness Training to Promote Self-Regulation in Youth: Effects of the Inner Kids Program
Handbook of Mindfulness in Education
Short Title: Mindfulness Training to Promote Self-Regulation in Youth
Format: Book Chapter
Publication Date: Nov 30, 2015
Publisher: Springer New York
Place of Publication: New York, NY
Pages: 295 - 311
Sources ID: 68411
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)
Mindfulness training offers one approach to promote self-regulation, and potentially, to improve long-term developmental outcomes. Although mindfulness training programs are geared primarily for adults, there have been advancements in the development of programs designed for children and adolescents. In this chapter, we focus on one mindfulness training program called Inner Kids and the impact it might have on self-regulation and other important health constructs. The objectives of this chapter are to define self-regulation and consider its relation to other conceptually similar constructs and its developmental trajectory across childhood and adolescence; provide a brief overview of mindfulness; and offer a discussion of how mindfulness training might promote self-regulation. We then turn to a discussion of Inner Kids, as well as to results of a randomized controlled trial testing the program’s beneficial effect on self-regulation in second- and third-grade children. We conclude with specific recommendations for future research.