Biopsychosocial Outcomes of Mindfulness-based Instruction

Autonomic reactions subscale of Children's Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS): has 9-items that ask the students to respond in terms of how they think, feel, or act during a test. All the questions start with the same stem, ''While I am taking tests…'' (e.g., "I feel nervous"; "My head hurts"). Students are asked to choose between four response options (i.e., almost never, 1; some of the time, 2; most of the time, 3; almost always, 4).

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale-Children (MAAS-C): has 15 items and measures the frequency of mindful states over time. Students are asked to rate how frequently they experience certain state in a 6-point Likert scale ranging from almost never to almost always (e.g., "I could be feeling a certain way and not realize it until later"; "I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else").

The investigators will assess children's positive and negative affect weekly (12 times) using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale - child version. This will allow us to observe if there is change in student's affect due to the intervention. This is a 30-item scale in which the student is asked to rate in a 5-item scale ("not much or not al all" to "a lot") how much they felt certain positive and negative feelings and emotions during the past weeks (e.g., happy, sad, excited, ashamed, energetic, calm).

Self-report measure of perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale - Child, PSS-C): has 13 items and is a measure of perceived stress developed for children aged 5 to 18 years. Students are asked questions about their feelings and thoughts during the previous week (e.g., "In the last week, how often did you feel rushed or hurried?"). Items are rated on a four-point scale from "0" (Never) to "3" (Very Often).

Stress and inflammation biomarkers in the students' saliva: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) regulation and inflammation will be assessed by measuring the presence of cortisol. A sample of 1ml of saliva will be collected at each time point, three times within one day (9 A.M., 11:30 A.M., 2:30 P.M.)

Stress and inflammation biomarkers in the students' saliva: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) regulation and inflammation will be assessed by measuring the presence of DHEA. A sample of 1ml of saliva will be collected at each time point, three times within one day (9 A.M., 11:30 A.M., 2:30 P.M.)

Stress and inflammation biomarkers in the students' saliva: Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) regulation and inflammation will be assessed by measuring the presence of CRP. A sample of 1ml of saliva will be collected at each time point, three times within one day (9 A.M., 11:30 A.M., 2:30 P.M.)

The Flanker task from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery measures the child's ability to inhibit visual attention to irrelevant dimensions. The scoring procedure integrates both accuracy and reaction time. T-scores based on the participant's chronological age will be computed. T-scores range from 20 to 80 and have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Higher scores mean a better outcome. The average time to complete the task is 4 minutes.

The DCCS from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery measures the child's ability to shift from one rule to another (the child is asked to match an object with another based on shape and then based on color). The scoring procedure integrates both accuracy and reaction time. T-scores based on the participant's chronological age will be computed. T-scores range from 20 to 80 and have a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. Higher scores mean a better outcome. The average time to complete the task is 4 minutes.

Teachers who are not responsible for teaching either group (MindUP or control) will complete the Behavior Regulation Index (BRI, 13 items) of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), an ecologically valid measure of school-related executive performance. Teachers should take five minutes to complete these items per child. T-scores will be computed based on the child's chronological age. T-scores at or below 59 are considered to be within the typical range. T-scores of 60-64 are in the mildly elevated range, and scores equal to or exceeding 65 are considered to be significantly elevated. Thus, higher scores mean a worse outcome.

Teachers who are not responsible for teaching either group (MindUP or control) will complete the Emotion Regulation Index (ERI, 16 items) of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), an ecologically valid measure of school-related executive performance. Teachers should take five minutes to complete these items per child. T-scores will be computed based on the child's chronological age. T-scores at or below 59 are considered to be within the typical range. T-scores of 60-64 are in the mildly elevated range, and scores equal to or exceeding 65 are considered to be significantly elevated. Thus, higher scores mean a worse outcome.

To measure academic achievement, children will complete two subtests of the Woodcock-Johnson-IV: Passage Comprehension and Calculation. In the Passage Comprehension subtest, the child is asked to determine a missing key word in a written passage. In the Calculation subtest, children are asked to complete a series of arithmetic problems arranged in order of difficulty (e.g., 5 + 2 = ?; 42 +21 +13 = ?). Children should take five minutes to complete each of the subtests. All of these five measures are standardized and provide age-corrected standard scores, for which the normative mean is 100 and the standard deviation is 15.