Evaluation of Yoga for Preventing Adolescent Subst

Authors: Bethany Butzer Amanda LoRusso Sunny H Shin Sat Bir S Khalsa

Publish Date: 2016/05/31

Volume: 46, Issue: 3, Pages: 603-632

PDF Link

Abstract

Adolescence is a key developmental period for preventing substance use initiation however prevention programs solely providing educational information about the dangers of substance use rarely change adolescent substance use behaviors Recent research suggests that mind–body practices such as yoga may have beneficial effects on several substance use risk factors and that these practices may serve as promising interventions for preventing adolescent substance use The primary aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of yoga for reducing substance use risk factors during early adolescence Seventhgrade students in a public school were randomly assigned by classroom to receive either a 32session yoga intervention n = 117 in place of their regular physical education classes or to continue with physicaleducationasusual n = 94 Participants 632  female 536  White completed pre and postintervention questionnaires assessing emotional selfregulation perceived stress mood impairment impulsivity substance use willingness and actual substance use Participants also completed questionnaires at 6months and 1year postintervention Results revealed that participants in the control condition were significantly more willing to try smoking cigarettes immediately postintervention than participants in the yoga condition Immediate pre to postintervention differences did not emerge for the remaining outcomes However longterm followup analyses revealed a pattern of delayed effects in which females in the yoga condition and males in the control condition demonstrated improvements in emotional selfcontrol The findings suggest that schoolbased yoga may have beneficial effects with regard to preventing males’ and females’ willingness to smoke cigarettes as well as improving emotional selfcontrol in females However additional research is required particularly with regard to the potential longterm effects of mind–body interventions in school settings The present study contributes to the literature on adolescence by examining schoolbased yoga as a novel prevention program for substance use risk factorsWe are thankful to the KYIS intervention teachers and program mentors Janna Delgado Iona Smith Jordan Grinstein Renee Merrill Lucie Kasova Monica LaitnerLaserna Cara Masullo Katherine Olson and Mikki Pugh We also acknowledge the headmaster assistant headmasters school staff physical education teachers and students at the school who facilitated and/or participated in the project We are grateful to Mark Greenberg for providing guidance during the development and implementation of this project We also thank Frankye Riley who assisted with preparing this paper for publicationBB coordinated the study conducted statistical analyses and drafted the manuscript AL assisted with the execution of the study and drafted portions of the manuscript SHS and SBSK conceived of the study supervised the coordination of the study and drafted portions of the manuscript All authors read and approved the final manuscriptThis study was reviewed and approved by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Institutional Review Board Partners Human Research Committee All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standardsLesson 5 explores the concept of noticing one’s experience while sticking with stressful situations rather than giving up or checking out When faced with a challenge the instinctive response is often to give up and avoid the challenge entirely or check out and stay in the challenging situation but mentally disconnect from the experience This lesson invites students to practice remaining both physically and mentally engaged with a challenging experience

Keywords: