Determining the Effectiveness of FRIENDS Program on Ambiguity Tolerate and Solving Social Problems of Female High School Students

It is believed that some psychological characteristics improve attitudes toward various activities, including educational activities. Ambiguity tolerance is one of those characteristics. Students experience anxiety as well as mental and intellectual conflicts in ambiguous situations. They firmly adhere to previous ideas and fail to process new evidence. Of course, a moderate level of ambiguity can positively affect human life. Another problem that adolescents face to deal with is solving social problems. One of the new programs in this field is the FRIENDS program. This program is a cognitive–behavioral program based on prevention and primary intervention that is presented to children as a group or globally to deal with emotions such as anxiety, fear, and worry through the development of self–confidence, coping skills training, and flexibility enhancement designed with a simple structural method. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of the FRIENDS program to tolerate ambiguity and solve social problems of female high school students.

The research method was quasi–experimental with a pretest–posttest design and a control group. The statistical population comprised all female high school students in the first ninth grade, region 9 of Tehran City, Iran, in the academic year 2018–19. The sample was recruited by the convenience sampling method. The study sample consisted of 48 students that were randomly assigned to two groups (24 in the control group and 24 in the experimental group). The control group received no intervention, and the experimental group received 10 sessions of the training program. The Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale–II (MSTAT–II) (McLain, 2009) and the Social Problem–Solving Inventory–Revised (D'Zurilla et al., 2002) were administered to both groups in the pretest and posttest. The obtained data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard deviation as well as inferential statistics using univariate analysis of covariance in SPSS software version 22. The significance level of the tests was set at 0.05.

The results showed that FRIENDS program training was effective in reducing negative problem orientation (p=0.011), increasing positive problem orientation (p=0.004), reducing avoidance style (p=0.004), decreasing impulsivity/carelessness style (p<0.001) and increasing ambiguity tolerance (p<0.001). The obtained effect sizes were 0.11 for negative problem orientation, 0.18 for positive problem orientation, 0.19 for avoidance style, 0.24 for impulsivity/carelessness style, and 0.40 for ambiguity tolerance.

Based on the research findings, the FRIENDS program reduces negative problem orientation, avoidance style, and impulsivity/carelessness in problem–solving in female students. Also, this program increases positive problem orientation and tolerance of ambiguity in these students. Therefore, the FRIENDS program can improve students' behavioral and cognitive disorders and be effective for academic progress.