Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Training on Reduction of Symptoms in Students with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

Abstract

The present study has been carried out to explore the effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Training on the oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptom reduction among the students of the eighth and ninth grade in the city Tehran. The methodology has been of a quasiexperimental nature with a pretest posttest design and a control group. The statistical population has been composed of the male students of the eighth and ninth grade of the city Tehran in the academic year 2014-2015 and sampling was carried out by the multistage cluster random one. After the Children Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4) had been filled in by the teachers, 50 students with the points higher than the cut-off point in CSI-4 were selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. The former group received 10 Emotion Regulation Training in sessions each for 90 minutes after which a posttest was given to them. To analyze the statistical data, a covariance method was applied as a result of which a meaningful reduction (p>0.001) was observed in the posttest intensity of ODD symptoms for the experimental group in comparison to the control one. Given the findings of the study, Emotion Regulation Training is believed to contribute to the reduction of ODD symptoms among the students, rendering it as an effective intervention method.