Abstract
Objectives
Violent and criminal behaviors have increased in recent years in many countries, with the younger population constituting one of the main actors involved in this phenomenon. It has been hypothesized that alterations in inhibitory control play a crucial role in the appearance and persistence of such behaviors. Mindfulness meditation promotes detailed observation of sensations, emotions, and thoughts that involve cognitive processes and brain circuits closely related to inhibitory control. To determine the effect of mindfulness meditation on inhibitory control in young offenders.
Methods
A total of 40 young male offenders (16–23 years) were recruited from a juvenile correctional facility, all of whom had committed violent crimes before the age of 18. The youths were divided into two groups of 20 participants each: treatment and control. A Stroop task and two Stop-signal tasks, one with happy, fearful, angry, and neutral facial stimuli, were performed before and after a 10-week mindfulness meditation training program.
Results
Compared to controls, the young offenders who participated in mindfulness training improved their inhibitory control after treatment, as reflected in an increase in their reaction times on the Stop-signal task (F(1,36) = 12.87, p = .031, η2 = .261), and a decrease in the number of errors on the Stroop task (F(1,36) = 4.684, p = .037, η2 = .115).
Conclusions
Mindfulness meditation training improved inhibitory control and, therefore, may have a positive effect on mitigating violent behavior in young offenders.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Jorge Ontiveros and Fernanda Quezada for training the youth that participated in the study; Paul Kersey and Francisco F. de Miguel for reviewing the style of the manuscript; and Sergio Iván Rivera-Tello, Paola Rodríguez-Olguín, and Luis Miguel Burciaga-Fuestes for their statistical advice.
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This study was financially supported by the United States Agency for International Development (FAA-CEDAT-001) and by CONACYT (CB-2012/180981).
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ASM was the principal investigator including designing and overseeing the conduct of the study, conducting data analyses, and writing the manuscript; she obtained some of the funds to do the research. ARG assisted with the design of the study, was the primary research coordinator for the day-to-day operation of the study, and assisted in preparing the manuscript. OI and JRL were co-investigators who assisted in designing the study and preparing the manuscript. RDCT and MEL obtained funds to carry out the research, made the agreements with the prison authorities, and designed and taught the mindfulness training.
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All procedures involved in this research were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Neuroscience of the University of Guadalajara (registration number ET032017-239) in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the Helsinki declaration.
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Ron-Grajales, A., Sanz-Martin, A., Castañeda-Torres, R.D. et al. Effect of Mindfulness Training on Inhibitory Control in Young Offenders. Mindfulness 12, 1822–1838 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01643-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-021-01643-3