Participation in a yoga intervention is associated with improved mental health among Latinx adolescents

Latinx youth with mental health disorders have worse outcomes when compared to their White (non-Hispanic) counterparts. Latinx youth also have less access to and lower utilization of mental health services. Emerging research supports the psychological and physical benefits of engaging in yoga and yoga may function as a complimentary treatment option for patients with mental health challenges. However, research assessing the efficacy of yoga and mindfulness is particularly sparse among Latinx youth, who may particularly benefit from mind body awareness activities given barriers to more traditional health approaches. The objective of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the effects of a 12-week Vinyasa flow-based yoga group intervention on anxiety, depression, empathy, and life satisfaction among adolescents receiving outpatient mental health treatment. Adolescents (n = 186; 12-17 years old) were recruited to an active intervention condition (Yoga); a subsequent group of participants (n = 91) were recruited in the same manner to an assessment-only comparison control condition (Comparison). The Yoga group participated in culturally and developmentally tailored group yoga classes for 12 weeks. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the main effect intervention response between participants in the two conditions. At the post-intervention assessment, after controlling for baseline levels of outcome variables (i.e., depression, anxiety, empathy, and life satisfaction), on average participants in the yoga condition reported: less depression symptoms (B = -1.54, p = 0.008), less anxiety symptoms (B = -0.75, p = 0.048), greater empathy (B = 1.32, p = 0.025) and greater life satisfaction (B = 0.30, p = 0.013) as compared to the Comparison condition. Yoga interventions can be an acceptable and feasible modality for promoting well-being and reducing mental health problems among Latinx youth.