Yoga and Emotion Regulation in High School Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Middle adolescents (15-17 years old) are prone to increased risk taking and emotional instability. Emotion dysregulation contributes to a variety of psychosocial difficulties in this population. A discipline such as yoga offered during school may increase emotion regulation, but research in this area is lacking. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of a yoga intervention on the emotion regulation of high school students as compared to physical education (PE). In addition, the potential mediating effects of mindful attention, self-compassion, and body awareness on the relationship between yoga and emotion regulation were examined. High school students were randomized to participate in a 16-week yoga intervention (n = 19) or regular PE (n = 18). Pre-post data analyses revealed that emotion regulation increased significantly in the yoga group as compared to the PE group (F (1,32) = 7.50, p = .01, and eta(2) = .19). No significant relationship was discovered between the changes in emotion regulation and the proposed mediating variables. Preliminary results suggest that yoga increases emotion regulation capacities of middle adolescents and provides benefits beyond that of PE alone.