Hair cortisol reduction and social integration enhancement after a mindfulness‐based intervention in children

Autor: Natalia Carro, Carolina Ibar, Paola D'Adamo, Diego Gonzalez, Gabriela Berg, Bibiana Fabre, Mariana Lozada
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Child: Care, Health and Development. 49:73-79
ISSN: 1365-2214
0305-1862
Popis: Over recent decades, chronic stress at an early age has become a worrying health problem in children. We seek to evaluate an intervention involving mindfulness-based practices and prosocial activities in 7- to 8-year-old children.Stress levels were determined using hair cortisol concentration (HCC), and social integration was measured by means of a sociogram. The program had previously proven to be effective in decreasing salivary cortisol levels and in favouring social integration in children. A total of 35 children participated in the study: 18 constituted the intervention group and 17 the wait-list group. In both groups, HCC and social integration were evaluated before and after the intervention conducted throughout an entire school year.The experimental group showed a significant reduction in HCC, as well as significant enhancement of social integration levels, whereas no changes were observed in the wait-list group.This is the first research to show that HCC, a reliable neuroendocrine indicator, decreased as a result of a mindfulness-based program. This successful outcome adds new evidence to previous findings regarding the reduction of chronic stress in children following participation in this program.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: