Mindfulness may help young people focus, but only against groups that got nothing extra.

The review

1. 01

   Who took part

   20,138 young people under 19 took part in 66 studies. Of them, 9,552 had a mindfulness programme and 10,586 were in the other groups.

2. 02

   What they did

   Each mindfulness programme had more than one face-to-face session led by a trained teacher. The other groups got nothing extra, waited for the course, or did an active activity of another kind.

3. 03

   What happened

   Against groups that got nothing extra, these programmes helped attention, anxiety and stress. Against active groups, attention did no better, and wellbeing showed no clear difference. Depression improved a little, but later check-ups found no clear gains, and most studies were low quality.

What the review found

1. Helped

   Across 14 studies, mindfulness helped young people's attention more than doing nothing did.

   • Action: Practise mindfulnesstested

   Pooled analysis of 14 studies with 1,435 people · vs groups that got nothing extra or waited · ⚠ the studies disagreed a lot; whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

2. No difference

   Across 11 studies, mindfulness did no better on attention than active courses did.

   • Action: Practise mindfulnesstested

   Pooled analysis of 11 studies with 1,503 people · vs groups with another active activity · ⚠ whole programmes were tested, so no single part can be credited

Source