Benefits of Mindfulness in Education - Part 4:

Adolescents are not Small Adults

WHO (World Health Organisation) identifies adolescence as the period in human growth and development that occurs after childhood and before adulthood, from ages 10 to 19 years. It represents one of the critical transitions in life span and is characterised by a tremendous pace in growth and change that is second only to that of infancy. Biological processes drive many aspects of this growth and development, with the onset of puberty marking the passage from childhood to adolescence. The biological determinants of adolescence are fairly universal; however, the duration and defining characteristics of this period may vary across cultures and socioeconomic situations.

Adolescents are not simply small adults, and we have to keep that in mind when developing Mindfulness programs for them.

The process of adolescence is a period of preparation for adulthood during which time several key developmental experiences occur. Besides physical and sexual maturation, these experiences include movement toward social and economic independence, development of identity, the acquisition of skills needed to carry out adult relationships and roles, and the capacity for abstract reasoning.

Adolescents' power to direct their attention in purposeful ways gradually improves over the middle school years well into the late teens. These older children can sometimes be excessively self-conscious and inwardly-focused, due to their ongoing cognitive and neurological growth.

A Period of Potential

While adolescence is a time of tremendous growth and potential, it is also a time of considerable risk during which social contexts exert powerful influences. As such this is an ideal age to learn and benefit from Mindfulness practices. The education systems of the UK, Canada and the USA have already realised this and have started to incorporate the practice of Mindfulness into their educational systems.

Stress and anxiety has a high prevalence among the adolescents. As in the case of adults, the regular practice of Mindfulness will help adolescents overcome stress and anxiety. There are also specific benefits, such as improving memory. Adolescents will remember things and events better if they are; aware of them, attend to them and stay focused. Mindfulness is useful to those with ADHD as it helps to improve attention and focus. The training is also beneficial to those adolescents who are aggressive, as it promotes self-control and self-management.

Furthermore, adolescents, by becoming more self-aware and by focusing on themselves will learn how their mind works and about the thinking process, facilitating greater self -understanding of their own experiences of the world. (Fontana & Slack, 1997)

Understand the Uniqueness

It is important to understand the unique differences of adolescents when developing programs to suite specific developmental cycles. It is true that they can be more focused on the present at times than the adults. They can focus intently on a game or an enjoyable activity with friends. They feel their emotions immediately, reacting to a current situation, even if they have difficulty identifying or verbalizing those feelings.

They also live in a world of being told what to do most of the time: what time to wake up, what time to go to school, how to do each activity while at school and so on. This could be very frustrating to some of them.

Their lack of sense control may lead to going through the motions of their daily tasks without a conscious awareness of what they are doing. Sometimes they may forget as to what they had for their dinner the previous night. That may not be due to a poor inherent memory, but more likely due to not paying attention at the time. They ate what was put in front of them perhaps after arriving home from the tuition class or before rushing off to watch their favourite TV program.

Most of the adolescents are also very self-conscious. Their thinking could also be more concrete; so activities and instructions should be clear, definitive and descriptive. They are also imaginative and that could be used to encourage creativity. The use of descriptive stories and even humour could help.

Basic Methodology

Mindfulness practice for adolescents is not dramatically different from that of adults. The exercises have to be adapted to fit the developmental cycle. We need to be aware of what the world of an adolescent is like.

In teaching Mindfulness to both children and adolescents, it is important to start with success. So starting simply is better. While an adult might start to first practice Mindfulness of Breath for 15 minutes, it would be more appropriate for an adolescent to start with 5 minutes. The exercises presented also have to evolve progressively; beginning with more concrete attention to external environment, then moving to the experience of the body and finally to introduce awareness and attention to the mind.

Practicing adolescents will gradually learn to maximise their full potential as human beings.

(Aruna can be contacted at [email protected])