The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy on Cognitive Regulation of Emotion and Self-criticism in Adolescent Girls Experiencing Parental Divorce Mourning

Gholami , Sahar; Keshavarzi , Farnaz; Mohamadkhani , Parvaneh; Hasani, Fariba

Volume 14 - Articles-1403 MEJDS (2024) 14: 132 | Back to browse issues page

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Gholami S, Keshavarzi F, Mohamadkhani P, Hasani F. The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy on Cognitive Regulation of Emotion and Self-criticism in Adolescent Girls Experiencing Parental Divorce Mourning. MEJDS 2024; 14 :132-132
URL: http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-2436-en.html

The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment-Based Therapy on Cognitive Regulation of Emotion and Self-criticism in Adolescent Girls Experiencing Parental Divorce Mourning

Sahar Gholami¹

, Farnaz Keshavarzi ^*²

, Parvaneh Mohamadkhani³

, Fariba Hasani⁴

1- PhD Student in General Psychology, Central Tehran branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2- Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Psychology, Central Tehran branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3- Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Behavioral Sciences and Mental Health, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran
4- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract: (1241 Views)

Abstract
Background & Objectives: The family's warm and emotional atmosphere is threatened by conflict, fighting, and parental divorce. Divorce is the most significant indicator of marital turmoil and is one of the most stressful sources that can disrupt people's cognitive structures. Divorce in the family does not only harm the psychological processes of the couple but also injures the psychological health of the children. One of the effects and consequences of family disputes like divorce is emotional disorders in children, which reduces their quality of life. Also, self–criticism in children is one of the consequences of grief caused by parents' divorce in children. Since psychological injuries caused by divorce in family members appear persistently and affect their well–being, the necessity of psychological interventions is raised. One of the interventions that can affect the cognitive regulation of emotion and self–criticism in children of divorced families is acceptance and commitment therapy. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment–based therapy on cognitive regulation of emotion and self–criticism in adolescent girls experiencing parental divorce mourning.
Methods: The current research method was quasi–experimental and employed a pretest–posttest and a 3–month follow–up design with a control group. The statistical population included all teenagers aged 14–16 from divorced families living in Tehran City, Iran, in 2018. The sampling method was purposeful, and 30 people were selected as a sample based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The inclusion criteria were as follows: female gender, being between 14 and 16 years old, scoring above the cut–off point on the Grief Reaction Checklist (180 and above), and being in a divorced family. The exclusion criteria were as follows: withdrawal from participation in the study and absence of more than two therapy sessions. Data were gathered in two groups via (pretest, posttest, and follow–up) via the Grief Reaction Checklist (Hogan et al., 2001), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2006), and the Levels of Self–criticism Scale (Thompson & Zuroff, 2004). The experimental group received eight sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy (Forman and Herbert, 2008), and the control group was put on the waiting list to receive the intervention sessions if they tended after the end of the research. After completing the training period, a posttest was administered to both the experimental and control groups, and three months after the end of the intervention sessions, the experimental group was followed up again with research tools. Participants were assured that the results would be used only for research work and that the information and data would remain confidential. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, including mean, standard deviation, and inferential statistics, including analysis of variance with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS software version 22. The significance level of statistical tests was set at 0.05.
Results: The results showed that in the experimental group, the difference in the mean scores of adaptive and maladaptive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation and self–criticism in the pretest–posttest and pretest–follow–up was statistically significant (p<0.001). However, the difference in the mean scores in the posttest–follow–up was not significant (p=1.00). Also, the difference in the mean scores of adaptive and maladaptive strategies of cognitive emotion regulation and self–criticism in the experimental group was statistically significant compared to the control group (p<0.001).
Conclusion: According to the results of the present study, acceptance and commitment therapy positively reduce self–criticism and maladaptive components of cognitive emotion regulation. It also has a positive and improving effect on increasing the adaptive components of cognitive emotion regulation. Therefore, acceptance and commitment therapy can be used as an intervention method in adolescent children of divorced families.

Keywords: Acceptance and commitment therapy, Cognitive emotion regulation, Self–criticism, Grief

Full-Text [PDF 361 kb] (118 Downloads)

Type of Study: Original Research Article | Subject: Psychology

References

1. Huff SC, Hartenstein JL. Helping children in divorced and single‐parent families. In: Wampler KS, McWey LM; editors. The handbook of systemic family therapy. Wiley; 2020. [DOI]

2. Härkönen J, Bernardi F, Boertien D. Family dynamics and child outcomes: an overview of research and open questions. Eur J Population. 2017;33(2):163–84. [DOI]

3. World Health Organization. Maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and aging [Internet]. 2018. [Article]

4. Lan X, Marci T, Moscardino U. Parental autonomy support, grit, and psychological adjustment in Chinese adolescents from divorced families. J Fam Psychol. 2019;33(5):511–20. [DOI]

5. Wallerstein J, Lewis J, Packer Rosenthal S. Mothers and their children after divorce: report from a 25-year longitudinal study. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 2013;30(2):167–84. [DOI]

6. Freud S. Mourning and melancholia. In: Strachey J; editor. The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud. London: Hogarth Press; 1953.

7. Shimkowski JR, Ledbetter AM. Parental divorce disclosures, young adults' emotion regulation strategies, and feeling caught. J Fam Commun. 2018;18(3):185–201. [DOI]

8. Gelo OCG, Mergenthaler E. Unconventional metaphors and emotional-cognitive regulation in a metacognitive interpersonal therapy. Psychother Res. 2012;22(2):159–75. [DOI]

9. Besharat R, Soltani Azemat E, Mohammadian A. A comparative study of rumination, healthy locus of control, and emotion regulation in children of divorce and normal children. Pract Clin Psychol. 2018;6(4):207–14. [DOI]

10. Haghighatian M, Hashemianfar SA, Aghababaee AA. Typology of divorce and its social consequences among the divorced women under the support of Imam Khomeini relief committee of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province. Journal of Applied Sociology, 2018;29(2):65–92. [Persian] [Article]

11. Kannan D, Levitt HM. A review of client self-criticism in psychotherapy. J Psychother Integr. 2013;23(2):166–78. [DOI]

12. Thompson R, Zuroff DC. The Levels of Self-Criticism Scale: comparative self-criticism and internalized self-criticism. Pers Individ Dif. 2004;36(2):419–30. [DOI]

13. Gilbert P, Clarke M, Hempel S, Miles JNV, Irons C. Criticizing and reassuring oneself: An exploration of forms, styles and reasons in female students. Br J Clin Psychol. 2004;43(1):31–50. [DOI]

14. Hashemi L, Homayuni H. Emotional divorce: child's well-being. J Divorce. 2017;58(8):631–44. [DOI]

15. Supratman LP. A qualitative study of teenagers viewpoint in dealing with parents' divorce in Indonesia. J Divorce. 2020;61(4):287–99. [DOI]

16. Perry G. Non-parental investment in children and child outcomes after parental death or divorce in a patrilocal society. Social Sciences. 2021;10(6):196. [DOI]

17. Quchani M, Haji Arbabi F, Sabur Smaeili N. A comparison of the effectiveness of Clark and ACT parenting training on improving the emotional-behavioral problems of the child with divorced single mothers. Learning and Motivation. 2021;76:101759. [DOI]

18. Gloster AT, Walder N, Levin ME, Twohig MP, Karekla M. The empirical status of acceptance and commitment therapy: a review of meta-analyses. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science. 2020;18:181–92. [DOI]

19. Coto-Lesmes R, Fernández-Rodríguez C, González-Fernández S. Acceptance and commitment therapy in group format for anxiety and depression. a systematic review. J Affect Disord. 2020;263:107–20. [DOI]

20. Feros DL, Lane L, Ciarrochi J, Blackledge JT. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) for improving the lives of cancer patients: a preliminary study. Psycho-Oncology. 2013;22(2):459–64. [DOI]

21. Javanbakht Z, Manshey G. The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment based treatment on meaning of life and feeling lonely of adolescents in the alternative care center. Journal of Social Work. 2017;5(4):32–9. [Persian] [Article]

22. Marmarchinia M, Zoghi Paidar MR. Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on hope and happiness of female adolescents under welfare protection. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2017;11(3):157–74. [Persian] [Article]

23. Kline R. Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 2016.

24. Hogan S, Daryl B. Greenfield, Lee N. Development and validation of the Hogan grief reaction checklist. Death Stud. 2001;25(1):1–32. [DOI]

25. Hogan NS, Schmidt LA. Testing the grief to personal growth model using structural equation modeling. Death Stud. 2002;26(8):615–34. [DOI]

26. Sharifi M, Ahmadi SA, Fatehizade M. Psychometric properties of the Hogan grief reaction checklist in Iranian bereaved families. Knowledge & Research in Applied Psychology. 2014;14(3):69–79. [Persian] [Article]

27. Garnefski N, Kraaij V. Cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire – development of a short 18-item version (CERQ-short). Pers Individ Dif. 2006;41(6):1045–53. [DOI]

28. Pazoki L, Kochak Entezar R, Ghanbary Panah A. Psychometric characteristics of the cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire. Journal of Psychometry. 2015;4(14):1–11. [Persian]. [Article]

29. Thompson R, Zuroff DC. The Levels of Self-Criticism Scale: comparative self-criticism and internalized self-criticism. Pers Individ Dif. 2004;36(2):419–30. [DOI]

30. Mousavi AS, Azadfalah P, Farahani H, Dehghani M. The validity, reliability and factorial structure of the Self-Destructiveness Scale. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry & Clinical Psychology. 2015;21(2):132–43. [Persian] [Article]

31. Forman EM, Herbert JD. New directions in cognitive behavior therapy: acceptance-based therapies. In: O'Donohye W, Fisher JE; editors. General principles and empirically supported techniques of cognitive behavior therapy. John Wiley & Sons; 2009.