Comparing the Efficacy of Mindfulness-Based Group Training and Emotion Regulation Skills in Externalizing Syndromes in Adolescents with a Tendency for Risky Behaviors

Mindfulness-based interventions can focus on the present to free people from unpleasant events of the past and worries about the future, thereby reducing their involvement in high-risk behaviors.

The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of mindfulness and emotion regulation training in the reduction of emotion dysregulation in externalization symptoms in adolescents with a tendency for high-risk Behaviors.

This experimental study was conducted on 74 at-risk high school adolescents in the 15th district of Tehran in 2019. They were randomly assigned to three groups of mindfulness, emotion regulation, and control groups. With a pre-test and post-test control group design, subjects in the intervention groups underwent sessions of mindfulness and emotion regulation training, while the control group did not receive any intervention. All groups were evaluated in pre-test and post-test using Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 18) using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) test.

Based on the results,  there were no significant mean differences among groups in the pretest. Nonetheless, the scores of externalization syndrome in the subscale of lawless behavior (2η=0.19; P<0.01; F=6.31 (53.2)) and aggressive behavior (18/18 0=2nd; P<0.01; F=5.68 (53.2) significantly reduced in two groups of mindfulness and emotion regulation, compared to those obtained in the control group.

Mindfulness-based group training and emotion regulation could be regarded as useful interventions for at-risk adolescents by emotion regulation and reduction of the possibility of risky behaviors.