Development of a Psychological Capital Training Program and Evaluation of Its Efficacy on Impulsivity and Psychological Flexibility in of the Students Engaged in Parents’ Divorce with Externalized Behavior Disorder

Development of a psychological capital training program and evaluation of its effectiveness on the impulsivity and psychological flexibility of students engaged in parents’ divorce with externalized behavior disorder was the purpose of the present study. In the qualitative portion of this study, the researchers employed a comparative method of thematic analysis, and in the quantitative portion, a quasi-experimental design with a pretest, posttest, control group, and a two-month follow-up period. The statistical population of the present research consisted of divorced students with externalized behavior disorder attending the first high school in Isfahan during the academic year 2020-21. Forty students involved in a divorce and diagnosed with externalized behavior disorder were chosen using a purposive sampling technique and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received ten 75-minute psychological capital training sessions over the course of two and a half months. Three participants from the experimental group and three participants from the control group withdrew from the study. This investigation employed the Impulsivity Questionnaire (IQ), the Psychological Flexibility Questionnaire (PFQ), and the Children and Adolescents Behavioral Inventory (CABI). The study’s data were analyzed using repeated measurement ANOVA and the SPSS-23 statistical software. According to the results, the psychological empowerment packagehas sufficient content validity from the perspective of experts. In addition, this program had an impact on the impulsivity (F=62.07, Eta= 0.66, P≤0.001) and psychological flexibility (F=100.88, Eta= 0.74, P≤0.001) of students with externalized behavior disorder who were going through their paernts’ divorce. According to the findings of the present study, psychological capital training can be used effectively to reduce impulsivity and increase psychological flexibility in students with externalized behavior disorder who are going through a divorce.