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Mindful parenting decreases aggression and increases social behavior in children with developmental disabilities.

Author
Abstract
:

Research shows that after training in the philosophy and practice of mindfulness, parents can mindfully attend to the challenging behaviors of their children with autism. Parents also report an increased satisfaction with their parenting skills and social interactions with their children. These findings were replicated and extended with 4 parents of children who had developmental disabilities, exhibited aggressive behavior, and had limited social skills. After mindfulness training, the parents were able to decrease aggressive behavior and increase their children's social skills. They also reported a greater practice of mindfulness, increased satisfaction with their parenting, more social interactions with their children, and lower parenting stress. Furthermore, the children showed increased positive and decreased negative social interactions with their siblings. We speculate that mindfulness produces transformational change in the parents that is reflected in enhanced positive behavioral transactions with their children.

Year of Publication
:
2007
Journal
:
Behavior modification
Volume
:
31
Issue
:
6
Number of Pages
:
749-71
ISSN Number
:
0145-4455
URL
:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0145445507300924?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed
DOI
:
10.1177/0145445507300924
Short Title
:
Behav Modif
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