The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on self-control and emotional inhibition male students with high-risk behaviors

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on self-control and emotional inhibition in male students with high-risk behaviors. The research method was quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population included all male high school students in Ardabil in the academic year 2020-2021. By purposeful sampling method, 29 eligible individuals were selected and randomly assigned to experimental (n = 14) and control (n = 15) groups. The experimental group received eight 75-minute sessions per week, one session of acceptance and commitment therapy (Hayes and Strosahl, 2010). Data collection tools were the Iranian adolescents' risk-taking scale (IARS, Soleimaninasab et al., 2018), Self-Controlling Scale (SCS, Tangney et al., 2004), and Standard Emotional Control Questionnaire (ECQ, Rogers and Najarian, 1989). Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance using SPSS22 statistical software. Results showed that with pre-test control, there was a significant difference between self-control and emotional inhibition between post-test scores in the experimental and control groups (P<0.001). As a result, it can be said that acceptance and commitment-based therapy is effective in improving self-control and emotional inhibition in students with high-risk behaviors.