The Effects of Teaching Cognitive Regulation of Emotion Strategies on Social Adjustment and Well Being of Male Gifted Students

  Teaching the skills and strategies of emotional regulation can be influential in individuals' adjustment and can function as a preventive factor in the relationship between background factors and adjustment. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of teaching the cognitive regulation of emotion strategies on social adjustment and well being of male students in gifted junior high schools in Ahvaz.

The study employed a quasi-experimental with a pretest-posttest design including a two-month interval follow-up. The research population included all male students from gifted junior high schools in Ahvaz, in the academic year of 2016-2017 (n = 538). Data was collected through multi-stage cluster sampling. From a list, 30 students who possessed the criterion to enter the study were selected and randomly assigned to experimental or control group. The research instruments included theSinha and Singh's Adjustment Inventory for High School Students Questionnaire, Granefski and Kraaij Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Kaplan and Maher's School Well-Being Questionnaire. Both groups underwent a pretest, posttest and a two- month follow-up. In implementing the treatment, the experimental group received instruction on the skills of cognitive regulation of emotion for 20 hours in 10 sessions, while the control group received no instruction.

The results of mixed ANOVA indicated that teaching the cognitive regulation of emotion strategies had affected the academic, emotional and social adjustment, as well as school wellbeing of the students from gifted junior high schools in Ahvaz. In addition, results indicated that in the posttest and the follow up, there were significant differences between the experimental and control groups in the degree of academic, emotional and social adjustments, as well as school wellbeing.

Based on the findings, it can be concluded that teaching the skills of cognitive regulation of emotion can be employed as a useful intervention method to enhance adjustment (emotional, social and academic) and also school wellbeing, leading to a higher efficacy of students with adjustment and behavioral problems.