A Study On Mindfulness Training To Improve Attention Of Adolescents

Mindfulness training is a method of psychological intervention that focuses the individual’s attention on the moment.Previous empirical studies have shown that mindfulness training can effectively improve individual’s attention.However,the relevant empirical studies are limited to adults and children,and a little research has focused on adolescents.Additionally,whether the initial attention level of adolescents and the mindfulness training duration influence the efficacy of mindfulness training is unknown.Therefore,the purpose of this article is to investigate whether the effect of mindfulness training varies with the initial attention level of adolescents and with the mindfulness training duration.In this study,three groups of adolescents with different initial levels of attention(low-level group,middle-level group and high-level group)underwent the eight-week of the mindfulness training that was arranged 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes each time.The attention network test paradigm including alertness function,orientation function and executive control function was used to monitor the changes in the attention of the subjects with an interval of every two weeks.The adolescents with the mindfulness training were cataloged into the three groups according to their levels in alertness function,orientation function and executive control function.After the eight-week training,9 participants randomly selected from each group were interviewed.ANOVA results show that after the eight-week mindfulness training,the three groups of adolescents had got some improvements in the attention.Specifically,the adolescents in the low-level group showed the significant promotion in the alertness,orientation,and executive control functions.The ones in the middle-level group showed the significant promotion in the orientation and executive control functions,but it was true for their alertness function.The ones in the high-level group showed the significant promotion in the executive control function,but it was not true for their alertness and orientation functions.The attention was quickly improved in the first two weeks for all the three groups of participants throughout the training period,and slowly developed in the following six weeks.ANOVA results show that Although there was a significant difference among the three groups in alertness levels before the mindfulness training,there were no significant differences among them after the two-week,four-week,six-week,and eight-week training.It indicated that the adolescents in the low-level group got a rapid improvement in the alertness function after the two-week mindfulness training,reaching the level of the other two groups.Although there was the significant difference among the three groups in orientation function levels before the mindfulness practice and after the two-week,four-week,six-week and eight-week mindfulness practice,the adolescents in the low-level and middle-level groups showed a faster improvement compared with the high-level group.Although there was the significant difference among the three groups in executive control function levels before the mindfulness training and after the two-week,four-week,and six-week mindfulness training,there was no difference after the eight-week mindfulness practice.These results indicated that the adolescents in the low-level group got the faster improvement in attention level than those in the middle-level and highlevel groups.In the interview on the three groups of participants,most of the participants agreed the efficacy of the mindfulness training in promoting attention and gave some valuable suggestions on the course content and arrangement of the mindfulness training.In summary,the mindfulness training can effectively promote the adolescents’ attention,but its effect was varied with the initial level of the subjects.