A four-week breathing-based programme implemented in schools has shown to enhance social connectedness among adolescent girls with high levels of childhood adversity, offering a low-cost approach to support mental wellbeing.
A simple breathing programme delivered at school may help teenagers who have experienced childhood adversity feel more connected to others, according to research from the University of California, Los Angeles. The study, published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence, found that the benefits were strongest among girls with the highest levels of early-life hardship, a result that runs counter to the usual pattern in school-based wellbeing programmes.
The research followed 174 female adolescents at two high schools in southern California and looked at exposure to childhood stressors such as violence, neglect and other prolonged hardship. One school received a four-week intervention that combined social and emotional learning with structured breathing exercises, then continued the practice during lessons for another eight weeks. The comparison group stayed on its normal timetable and was offered the programme only after the study ended.
Among participants with the greatest history of adversity, social connection rose by 7% after the intervention. Dara Ghahremani of UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behaviour said the striking finding was that “the girls who needed the most help benefited the most”. She added that better stress regulation may make it easier for young people to relate to those around them.
The study adds to a growing body of evidence that breathing-based interventions can affect adolescent wellbeing in measurable ways. Other recent research has linked resonant breathing with lower breathing rates and higher heart rate variability, both signs of improved stress regulation, while separate trials have reported gains in respiratory function, stress levels and cognitive patterns after interventions that include breathing training. The new findings also matter because a sense of belonging is closely tied to mental health in adolescence, a period when loneliness and social withdrawal can have long-term effects. For schools, the appeal is practical: these programmes are low-cost, easy to deliver and may offer extra support in communities with limited access to mental health services.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
