Mindfulness as cognitive and emotion regulation strategy to promote resilience in children

专注力通常被定义为一种有目的的、非评判性的注意力调节方式，可以使用既定的方法进行训练。正念练习对成年人心理健康的益处已经被广泛的实证研究所证明(Brown&Ryan，2003)。然而，对儿童和青春期的影响的研究程度较小。青春期早期的特点是前额叶皮质的发育迅速变化，这可以解释为影响学习的关键窗口。因此，我们有理由认为，尚未进入青春期的儿童在很大程度上受益于正念训练。此外，由于精神障碍的易感性增加，促进执行控制、情绪调节和幸福感在神经认知发展的这个阶段特别重要(Sanger&Dorjee，2015；Spear，2013)。一些实证研究已经证明，这些期望的心理特性可以通过正念训练来改善(例如，Jha等人，2010；Lyver等人，2014；Poehlmann-Tynan等人，2016)。然而，缺乏对儿童的研究，这些研究一方面满足很高的方法标准，即涉及控制组和客观措施，另一方面考虑潜在的机制及其相互关系。不同的模型都同意这样的假设，即第一步的正念训练培养了执行功能，而第二步又促进了情绪调节。在第三步中，这是为了提高幸福感。这一过程将带来持久的好处，如提高学业成绩和自我管理，这显然与以后的职业成功、健康和较高的社会经济地位有关(Moffitt等人，2011年)。这项设想的项目在一项对小学生进行的研究中检验了这一预测，该研究使用随机化的前后跟踪设计。随机分配后，参与者要么接受学校训练有素的老师为期8周的正念治疗，要么不进行特殊干预。在干预期前后，分别用客观和主观两种方法评估儿童的执行控制、情绪调节和幸福感。所有测试在3个月的跟踪间隔后重复进行，以便可以在更长的时间段内监测培训的效果。由于合理的实验设计和有效的测量方法，该项目推进了基础和应用研究，因为它允许就正念的潜在机制得出结论，并就在学校环境中实施正念训练采取循证步骤。

Mindfulness is commonly defined as a purposeful and non-judgmental way of attention regulation which can be trained using established methods. The benefits of mindfulness practice for mental health of adults has been demonstrated by a wide range of empirical studies (Brown & Ryan, 2003). However, effects during childhood and adolescence have been investigated to a smaller degree. Early adolescence is marked by rapid changes in the development of the prefrontal cortex which can be interpreted in terms of a critical window for influences of learning. Hence, there is reason to assume that children who have not yet reached puberty benefit from mindfulness training to a particularly great extent. Furthermore, due to heightened vulnerability for developing mental disorders, promoting executive control, emotion regulation and well-being is of particular importance at this stage of neurocognitive development (Sanger & Dorjee, 2015; Spear, 2013). Several empirical studies have already demonstrated that these desirable mental properties can be improved by mindfulness training (e.g., Jha et al., 2010; Lyvers et al., 2014; Poehlmann-Tynan et al., 2016). However, there is a lack of research with children which on the one hand satisfies high methodological standards, i.e., involving control groups and objective measures, and which on the other hand considers underlying mechanisms and their interrelations. Various models agree on the assumption that mindfulness training in a first step fosters executive functions which in a second step promotes emotion regulation. In a third step, this is to result in enhanced well-being. This process would have lasting benefits such as an enhancement of school achievement and self-regulation, which are evidently associated with later career success, health, and high socioeconomic status (Moffitt et al., 2011). The envisaged project examines this prediction in a study with elementary school children using a randomized pre-post-follow-up design. After random assignment participants receive either an 8-week mindfulness treatment by trained teachers at school or no special intervention. Immediately before and after the intervention period executive control, emotion regulation, and well-being of the children are assessed by both objective and subjective measures. All tests are repeated after a 3-month follow-up interval so that effects of the training can be monitored over a longer period of time. Due to sound experimental design and valid measurement methods, the project advances basic as well as applied research, since it allows for both conclusions on underlying mechanisms of mindfulness, and evidence-based steps regarding the implementation of mindfulness training in school settings.