Targeting cognitive and emotional regulatory skills for smoking prevention in low-SES youth: A randomized trial of mindfulness and working memory interventions.
Study Goal
The researchers aimed to evaluate whether mindfulness training targeting distress tolerance could reduce smoking initiation risk in low-SES adolescents.
Results Summary
The study found no significant evidence for differential efficacy of mindfulness training in smoking prevention or for its effects on distress tolerance. However, distress tolerance was negatively related to smoking propensity.
Population
Low-income adolescents recruited from community afternoon programs.
Effective Dosage
Not specified
Duration
Not specified
Interactions
None mentioned
| Intervention | Direction | Endpoint | Population | Dosage | Impact | Claim # |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
working memory intervention | no change | smoking prevention | adolescents from low-income community afternoon programs | no significant change | no significant evidence was found either for differential efficacy | #1 |
mindfulness training intervention to target distress tolerance | no change | smoking prevention | adolescents from low-income community afternoon programs | no significant change | no significant evidence was found either for differential efficacy | #2 |
working memory intervention | no change | working memory capacity | adolescents from low-income community afternoon programs | no significant change | no significant evidence was found for intervention effects | #3 |
mindfulness training intervention to target distress tolerance | no change | distress tolerance | adolescents from low-income community afternoon programs | no significant change | no significant evidence was found for intervention effects | #4 |
- | decrease | smoking propensity | adolescents | - | were found to be negatively related to | #5 |
- | decrease | smoking propensity | adolescents | - | were found to be negatively related to | #6 |
Research to date provides striking evidence that youth from low socio-economic status (SES) households are at an increased risk for smoking. Converging evidence from developmental studies, psychopathology studies, intervention studies, and basic research on self-control abilities have identified working memory and distress tolerance as potential crucial modifiable risk factors to prevent smoking onset in this cohort. To confirm the value of these mechanistic targets, this randomized trial was designed to evaluate the influence of working memory and distress tolerance interventions on risk of smoking initiation. Recruiting primarily from low-income community afternoon programs, we randomized 93 adolescents to one of three intervention conditions, all of which were a prelude to a smoking-prevention informational intervention: (1) a working memory intervention, (2) a mindfulness training intervention to target distress tolerance, and (3) a wellness-focused control condition. Despite a number of adherence efforts, engagement in treatment was limited, and under these conditions no significant evidence was found either for differential efficacy for smoking prevention or for intervention effects on mechanistic targets. However, working memory capacity and distress tolerance were found to be negatively related to smoking propensity. As such, our mechanistic targets-working memory and distress tolerance--may well be processes undergirding smoking, despite the fact that our interventions did not adequately engage these targets.