A set of mental skills and socio-emotional dispositions—including self-regulation of emotion and attention, self-representations, and prosocial traits like empathy and compassion—are central to 21st-century education. These qualities can be strengthened through systematic contemplative practice, which induces plastic changes in brain function and structure, supporting prosocial behavior and academic success in young people. The authors call for focused programmatic research to determine which forms and frequencies of practice are most efficacious for which children and adolescents, and to document the neural changes induced.
An 8-week randomized controlled trial with 160 college-attending early adults aged 18-22 used a mobile health platform to test whether skills for psychological well-being can be learned through ecological momentary interventions. Participants were assigned to an active control group, a positive practices intervention, or a positive practices plus meditation intervention. Bayesian process modeling indicated that the mobile assessment tool itself may have improved well-being over time, shown by increased within-person mean levels, decreased intra-individual variability, and improved regulation of positive emotions and relationship quality. Moderation analysis further suggested that people who initially had low negative affect improved most in their average positive emotions and relationship quality.