Mindful bridge: Brief mindfulness practices alter negative emotion transmission and cooperative performance in parent–adolescent dynamics

Abstract

Parent–adolescent emotion transmission is crucial for adolescents' psychological development. Parental negative emotions could impair parent–adolescent interaction and relationships. Brief mindfulness practices (BMPs) are effective for improving emotional regulation and reducing negative emotions. However, few studies explored the effects of BMP on parent–adolescent negative emotion transmission. This study used the hyperscanning technique to examine the differences in the change of emotional states, cooperative performance, and interbrain synchrony (IBS) between the BMP group (20 parent–adolescent dyads) and the control rest (CR) group (20 parent–adolescent dyads) under induced parental negative emotions in cooperation interaction tasks. Results showed (1) decreases in negative emotions, hostility, and state anxiety in the BMP group after BMP, but only negative emotions decreased in the CR group after rest; (2) an increase in the success rate in the BMP group after BMP, but no change in the CR group after rest; and (3) decreases in IBS in the delta and theta bands in success feedback and increases in IBS in failure feedback in the BMP group after BMP, but no change in the CR group after rest. These findings suggest that BMP may mitigate parental negative emotion transmission to adolescents and promote their focused attitude toward cooperation.