Mindfulness Practice Relates to Improvements in Delaying Gratification in Preschoolers (Poster 31)

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Seven
  In Poster Session: Early Education and Child Development SIG Posters

Abstract

Executive function has been linked to school readiness, academic attainment, and social-emotional function in children (Zelazo, 2020). Although mindfulness has been proposed as a promising method for improving EF (Diamond & Ling, 2019), results have been mixed, especially during early development (Pearce et al., under review). The present study examined whether the multidimensional nature of mindfulness and EF may help explain these inconsistent findings by examining whether different elements of mindfulness practice differentially improved EF across two tasks. Results from 100 preschoolers suggested that only performance on tasks involving emotion regulation improved as children were encouraged to use more elements of mindfulness during the task, suggesting multiple components of mindfulness may be useful for preschoolers in tasks involving emotion regulation.

Authors

• Biju Rajbhandari, University of Mississippi
  Presenting Author

• Stephanie E. Miller, University of Mississippi
  Non-Presenting Author