زهره کریمی

One of the common problems that teenagers face is anxiety. Cognitive inflexibility and the inability to use emotion regulation strategies are two critical issues in increasing the anxiety of this segment of society. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of knowing the effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Training on cognitive flexibility and cognitive emotion regulation in anxious female students of high school. The research methodology was semi-experimental with pre-test and post-test with control group. The statistical population included all female students studying in the high school of Bushehr province - Delvar region during the years ۱۴۰۱-۱۴۰۲. The research sample included ۳۰ students who were diagnosed as anxious using Beck's anxiety questionnaire (anxiety score ۱۶ to ۶۳) and were randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received the acceptance and commitment therapy protocol based on Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson (۲۰۱۲) in ۸ sessions (each session ۹۰ minutes), while the control group did not receive any intervention. Research tools included Dennis and Vander Wal's cognitive flexibility questionnaire (۲۰۱۰) and Garnefsky et al.'s (۲۰۰۱) cognitive emotion regulation questionnaire, which were used for the experimental and control groups. The data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate covariance analysis. The research findings showed that there is a significant difference between the two experimental and control groups (p<۰.۰۰۱). Thus, it can be said that acceptance and commitment training is an effective method for improving cognitive flexibility and cognitive emotion regulation in students.