Comparison of the Effectiveness of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Social-Emotional Learning on the Components of Social-Emotional Competence and Academic Performance

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based social-emotional learning on the components of social-emotional competence and children's academic performance. The method of this study was quasi-experimental with post-test pre-test design with unequal control group. The study population consisted of male students of the second elementary school of Hamedan in 1397-98, that 54 students of whom were selected by cluster sampling method and were divided into two experimental groups (18 people) and a control group (18 people). First, students in the experimental and control groups filled the Zhou and Ee (2012) Socio-Emotional Competence Scale and the researcher-made academic performance test in the pre-test stage. Then, one experimental group was trained in mindfulness-based stress reduction method in 10 sessions and the other experimental group was trained in mindfulness-based social-emotional learning method in 18 weeks (90 audio files) and the control group no received interventions. After completing the training, all groups completed the tool again in the post-test phase. The results of analysis of covariance showed that the effectiveness of two methods of mindfulness on increasing the components of social-emotional competence and academic performance was significant (p< 0.01). But no significant difference was observed in the effectiveness of the two methods (p> 0.05). Based on these findings, it can be concluded that mindfulness can be used as an effective method to promote social-emotional competencies and academic performance in primary schools.