Influence of Mindfulness-Based Interventions on Executive Functions in Childhood: A Systematic Review

Executive functions are essential in child development. The aim of the present systematic review was to summarize how mindfulness-based interventions affect executive functions in children. The extensive literature research identified 331 experimental studies, 10 of which were finally included according to the following criteria: executive functions as dependent variable, mindfulness-based intervention as independent variable, existence of a control group, and age of children <= 13 years. The mindfulness-based interventions were highly heterogeneous with most studies using self-developed manuals. The majority of studies compared mindfulness-based interventions with non-active control groups (9/10) and included no follow-up assessment (9/10). Overall, mindfulness-based interventions yielded improvements in attention, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and working memory compared with the control groups. In some cases, a tow baseline level in executive functions was related to stronger changes after mindfulness-based interventions.