A Pilot Randomized Trial Evaluating a School-Based Mindfulness Intervention for Ethnic Minority Youth

This study examined the feasibility and efficacy of a 12-week mindfulness intervention in a wait-list controlled trial of 19 Latino-American and Asian-American middle school students with elevated mood symptoms. ANCOVA analyses indicated that immediate treatment was associated with significant reductions in parent-reported externalizing problems at post-treatment and marginally significant reductions in youth-reported internalizing problems. The pooled pre-to-post treatment analyses revealed that mindfulness led to a reduction in parent-reported externalizing problems, youth-reported internalizing problems, and youth-reported use of expressive suppression. Overall, this pilot study offers feasibility and efficacy data for mindfulness-based program as a potential treatment for behavior problems for ethnic minority youth with elevated mood symptoms. Implications of the findings, as well as considerations in engaging low-income ethnic minority families are discussed.