Ashtanga Yoga 12 weeks 90 minutes, three times a week
Yoga or physical education (c)
Emotional (affect and self-perceptions) and behavioral variables (internalizing and externalizing problems and aggression).
PANAS, Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Revised Parent Rating Scale for Reactive and Proactive Aggression (R-PRA), and the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC).
There were no significant changes between groups in self-reported positive affect, global self-worth, aggression indices, or parent reports of their children’s externalizing and internalizing problems. However, negative affect increased for those children participating in yoga when compared to the PE program.
Yoga Ed 11 weeks 30 to 40 minutes, two to three times a week
Yoga or physical education (c)
Mood, anxiety, perceived stress, resilience, and other mental health variables.
The Self-Report of Personality (SRP) version of the Behavior Assessment Survey for Children Version 2 (BASC-2), POMS, the Resilience Scale (RS), and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS).
Yoga participants showed statistically significant differences over time relative to controls on measures of anger control and fatigue/inertia. Most outcome measures exhibited a pattern of worsening in the control group over time, whereas changes in the yoga group over time were either minimal or showed slight improvements.
Kripalu Yoga 10 weeks 30 minutes, two to three times a week
Yoga or physical education (c)
Psychological well-being, mood and negative affect (primary measures), stress, resilience, anger, and acceptance (secondary measures).
Primary outcomes: Profile of Mood States-Short Form and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children. Secondary outcomes: Stress Scale and Inventory of Positive Psychological Attitudes, Resilience Scale, State Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2, and Child Acceptance Mindfulness Measure.
Mood improved in yoga and worsened in controls. Negative affect worsened in controls and improved in yoga.
High school students, ages or grades not informed ()
Niroga TLS 18 weeks 15 minutes, from one to five times a week
Yoga once a week, yoga twice a week, yoga three times a week, yoga five times a week, or a waiting list group (c).
Stress and self-control.
Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) and Tangney’s Self-Control Scale (TSCS-13).
The intervention group demonstrated a slight decrease in stress and maintenance in self-control. In contrast, the control group, which received no classes, demonstrated no significant change in stress and a nonsignificant trend toward deterioration of self-control.
Elementary school students, ages 9 to 11 (girls) ()
The Mindful Awareness for Girls through Yoga 8 weeks 60 minutes, once a week (10-minute homework for the other 6 days of the week)
Yoga or no intervention (c).
Stress, coping strategies, self-esteem, and mindfulness.
The Feel Bad Scale, the Schoolagers’ Coping Strategies Inventory, and the Healthy Self-Regulation Subscale of the Mindful Thinking and Action Scale for Adolescents.
No significant differences between groups were found. Over time, the intervention group was more likely than the control group to report stress
Hatha Yoga 3 months 40 minutes, every day as homework
Medhya Rasayana (Ayurveda treatment), Yoga, or no intervention (c)
Executive functions and mental status.
Short-term memory test, pictures, serial effects test, words, and mini mental state scale.
Group B showed highly significant and most effective changes in short-term memory test pictures and serial recall effects test using memory scope. Group C showed highly significant and most effective changes with respect to subjective and objective parameters in mini mental status scale.
Elementary and middle school students, ages 8 to 13 ()
Hatha Yoga 3 months 45 minutes, five times a week
Yoga or physical activity (c)
Self-esteem, attention, and physical fitness.
Stroop color-word task for children, Battle’s self-esteem inventory, and the teachers’ rating of the children’s obedience, academic performance, attention, punctuality, and behavior with friends and teachers.
Teachers’ rating of the children’s behavior. Social self-esteem: ↑ PA group Stroop: ↑ both groups (higher interference in the PA group). Total, general, and parental self-esteem improved in the yoga group. Both groups showed an increase in BMI and number of sit-ups. Balance worsened in the physical exercise group, while plate tapping improved in the yoga group.
