Investigating the effectiveness of metacognitive interpersonal therapy on the cognitive regulation of emotion and emotional inhibition in adolescents with high-risk behaviors

Risky behaviors are common in adolescent populations worldwide. It is believed that the disturbance in emotion regulation and emotional inhibition leads to an increase in risky behaviors in teenagers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of metacognitive interpersonal therapy on the cognitive regulation of emotion and emotional inhibition in adolescents with high-risk behaviors. The method of semi-experimental study with pre-test and post-test with a control group was conducted on all girls with high-risk behaviors who referred to Tehran counseling center in 2022. 30 teenage girls with risky behaviors were included in the study. Controlled study. Participants were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly divided into two experimental and control groups (15 people in each group). After conducting the pre-test using Carver and White Behavioral Inhibition/Behavioral Activation Scale and Gross and John Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the experimental group received metacognitive interpersonal training for 8 sessions of 90 minutes each week, while the control group received no training. did not. To evaluate the effect of training, a post-test was taken from both experimental and control groups. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS.23 software and multivariate covariance analysis method. The results showed that metacognitive interpersonal therapy caused a significant difference between the cognitive regulation of emotion and emotional inhibition in adolescents with high-risk behaviors. (P≥0.001). Based on these findings, it can be concluded that metacognitive interpersonal therapy has a positive effect on the cognitive regulation of emotion and emotional inhibition in adolescents with high-risk behaviors. Therefore, it can be said that this program can be used to help teenagers with risky behaviors.