Emily Sheridan

“Impact of Yoga on youth anxiety”


Introduction and Purpose

The impact of anxiety on youth is significant which is why there is a push to find effective ways to reduce anxiety. Many children have heightened emotions and feel worried and/or sad. While fears and worries are normal in children, persistent forms of fear and sadness could be a larger problem that is caused by anxiety or depression.

Approximately one in six (17.4%) children aged 2-8 years old have a diagnosed mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder. Mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders begin in early childhood. 9.4% of children aged 2-17 years (approximately 6.1) million have received an ADHD diagnosis and 7.1% of children aged 3-17 years (approximately 4.4 million) have diagnosed anxiety. These statistics show that mental, behavioral, and developmental disorders are prevalent among children and adolescence. Anxiety can be very disruptive in a young child’s life. It can interfere with them making friends, learning, and even daily living tasks.

Yoga has been an increasingly popular activity with youth populations. In 2007, over 1.5 million children were participating in yoga programs in the United States. Yoga is described as a mindful and contemplative practice that includes structured activities that “require individuals to exercise volitional control” over their physical and mental activity. Yoga for children often modifies the movements and postures and focuses on mental and emotional awareness and self-regulation skills. A growing amount of research has shown that yoga can improve focus, memory, self-esteem, academic performance, and classroom behavior.

There have been many studies about the positive effects of yoga on the adult population. However, there is a lack of consistent evidence on the effectiveness of yoga in reducing anxiety or improving attention in young children. A systematic review looked at 80 articles and determined that just about all of the studies showed a reduction in anxiety after a yoga intervention. The review revealed a significant amount of limitations. Only five of the studies used a manualized intervention. The systematic review advises that the yoga program is tailored to meet the specific psychosocial needs of their target population. There is also a need for studies to examine yoga’s impact on occupational participation and performance.

Methods

During the 2021 school year, participants were recruited from Ohio Wesleyan Early Childhood Center. Participants, teachers, and parents were made aware of the study. Parents received a consent form with a description of the study to provide consent for their child. All children who participated also provided assent to participate. There were 72 total subjects ages 3-6 (females n=34, males n=38, mean age =59 months).  

This study employed a quasi-experimental crossover design whereby the researchers divided the participants into two groups that undergo an experimental week (yoga treatment) and a control week (no yoga treatment). One group of participants were randomly selected to first experience the treatment week, while the other group would experience the control week and then the groups would switch. These two groups were made up of the 6 “classrooms” already present at the ECC (3 classrooms per group). 

The relevant measures included the preschool pediatric symptom checklist (PPSC) which is designed for children between 0-65 months. It is intended to be filled out by the parent of the child, the Parent Proxy Anxiety-Short form 8a where was an eight-question survey that is filled out by the parent, and the Fear Over Anxious (Ages 3-7) Parent Report Fixed Form which focuses on the parent’s report of children’s anxiety. All three forms were changed into teacher versions as well. The children also did a cancellation task, an age-appropriate, timed task where children mark off as many animals (horses and birds) in 90 seconds to determine the child’s attention and concentration. 

The yoga intervention consisted of a 15 minute standardized video, entitled “Yoga for Kids with Alissa Kepas” (above.) All children viewed the same video. Alissa Kepas introduces the poses by using animal and nature poses. She adds in interactive sounds to engage the children. Her poses include cat, cow, downward dog, sun salutation, upward dog, warrior, gorilla, tree, butterfly, etc. 

Both groups conducted a baseline test of relevant measures one week before the intervention began. For the experimental intervention week, the group was exposed to the yoga treatment on two occasions, one time as a practice session, where no measures were collected. Again, a second time, where the relevant measures were recorded post-yoga. The control group was not exposed to yoga and the relevant measures were recorded at the end of the week. The control and experimental group were exactly the same in every regard, except the control group will not receive the yoga intervention.

Conclusions


A two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) compared the effect of yoga on PPSC, Proxy, Fear, and cancellation task performance measures.

Results evidenced a decrease in PPSC scores for the yoga condition and an increase in PPSC scores for the control condition. There was a statistically significant difference in PPSC scores between the yoga condition and control condition at time 1, (F(1,70) = 12.364, p < .001, η2 = .150), but not at time 2, (F(1,70) = 1.023, p = .315, η2 = .014). Further, results showed that there was a statistically significant decrease in PPSC scores between time 1 and time 2 in the yoga condition (F(1,70) = 49.955, p = .001, η2 = .416). There was a statistically significant difference in PPSC scores between time 1 and time2 in the yoga condition (p=0.001) and no statistically significant difference in PPSC scores in the control group between time 1 and time 2.

In regards to the FOA, results evidenced a decrease in FOA scores for the yoga condition and a decrease in FOA scores for the control condition. In regards to the interaction of condition and time, simple effects analyses, with a Bonferroni correction, showed that there was a statistically significant difference in FOA scores between the yoga condition and control condition at time 1, (F(1, 70) = 33.140, p < .001, η2 = .321), and at time 2, (F(1,7 0) = 6.277, p = .015, η2 = .082). Results of the ANOVA showed that the significant decrease in FOA scores for the yoga condition across time was significantly different than the decrease in FOA scores for the control condition across time.

In regards to the PPA, results evidenced a decrease in PPA scores for the yoga condition and a decrease in PPA scores for the control condition. Results of the ANOVA evidenced that there was a significant main effect for time, F(1, 70) = 86.876, p < .001, η2 = .554, and a significant main effect for condition, F(1, 70) = 28.648, p < .001, η2 = .290. there was a statistically significant decrease in PPA scores between time 1 and time 2 in the yoga condition (F(1, 70) = 118.898, p < .001, η2 = .629), but no statistically significant decrease in PPA scores between time 1 and time 2 in the control condition (F(1, 70) = 3.233, p = .076 η2 = .044). Results of the ANOVA showed that the significant decrease in PPA scores for the yoga condition across time was significantly different than the decrease in PPA scores for the control condition across time.

In regards to the CcCorrect, results evidenced an increase in CcCorrect scores for the yoga condition and an increase in CcCorrect scores for the control condition. Results showed that there was a statistically significant increase in CxCorrect scores between time 1 and time 2 in the yoga condition (F(1,70) = 57.765, p < .001 η2 = .452), and a statistically significant increase in CxCorrect scores between time 1 and time 2 in the control condition (F(1,70) = 24.321, p < .001 η2 = .258). Results showed that the increase in CxCorrect scores for the yoga condition across time was significant and the increase in CxCorrect scores for the yoga condition across time was also significant. However, the main effects for the interaction evidenced that the statistically significant increase in scores in the yoga group across time was significantly greater than a statistically significant increase in scores in the control group across time.

Contact Info

Location

Slocum Hall
65 S. Sandusky St.
Delaware, OH 43015
P 740-368-3880
E ddmarkwa@owu.edu

Contact
David Markwardt, Associate Dean of the OWU Connection