A Self-Oriented Mindfulness-Based Curriculum Improves Prekindergarten Students’ Executive Functions

This study examined the impact of a mindfulness curriculum on prekindergarten students’ self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and academic skills. The curriculum focused primarily on lessons targeting students’ self-regulation and self-awareness. Four-year-old students from four schools (n = 157; 97% African American and Latina/o) experienced the mindfulness curriculum over the course of a school year, while students in four other schools (n = 139; 98% African American and Latina/o), matched to the mindfulness schools on a number of characteristics, experienced the business as usual curriculum. At the end of the school year, students in the mindfulness schools showed greater improvement in executive functions than students in the business as usual control schools (Cohen ds ranged from − .31 to − .56). No difference between the groups’ improvement on measures of prosocial behavior and academic skills was found. Because the program focused on self-regulation and self-awareness practices, the effects may have been restricted to executive functions.