Measuring mindfulness in children: breath counting is unrelated to self-reported mindfulness but improves after mindfulness practice in 9–13 year-olds
Frontiers in Psychology September 30, 2025 Winnie Zhuang, Laura Michaelson, Sona Dimidjian et al. 1 citation
A breath counting task can serve as a valid behavioral measure of mindfulness in children aged 9–13 years, capturing aspects of mindfulness distinct from those measured by self-report questionnaires. In a sample of 109 children, breath counting showed psychometric properties similar to those of adults and was positively associated with cognitive control performance, but unrelated to self-reported mindfulness. Among 67 children who completed 1–2 weeks of daily audio-based mindfulness exercises, breath counting improved significantly, whereas self-reported mindfulness did not. The findings indicate that behavioral measures like breath counting may be more sensitive to training impacts than self-reports, and both types of measures are recommended for future research.