The predictive values of state and trait mindfulness on emotion understanding in primary school children.

Introduction: Although positive effects of mindfulness-based interventions in schools on children's cognition and behaviors are frequently reported, there is a lack of studies on the association between children's mindfulness and their interpersonal social-emotional competences. The present study addresses this gap by analyzing the association between breath-based state mindfulness, self-reported trait mindfulness, and emotion understanding in German primary school children. Methods: Breath-based state mindfulness, self-reported trait mindfulness, and emotion understanding were assessed using a breath-counting task, the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale for Children, and the Adaptive Test of Emotion Knowledge, respectively, in Results: In addition to the significant effects of time and children's working memory updating, a significant effect of breath-based state mindfulness on children's emotion understanding was found. Discussion: These findings may suggest that children's mindfulness practice could have positive effects on social-emotional competences, such as emotion understanding, even when explicit components of social-emotional learning are not included in the mindfulness practice. This study highlights the potential relevance of brief mindfulness practices for supporting children's social-emotional development in school contexts. Future research should further investigate this association and potential mediators in more detail using larger samples.