The Impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Emotion Regulation Training (Gross Model) on Academic Procrastination, Resilience, and Depression in Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Abstract

The present research sought to compare the impact of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with emotion regulation training (Gross Model) on academic procrastination, resilience, and depression in students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This study had a quasi-experimental design. The population of this research was comprised of all male high school students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Tabriz in 2018-19 school year. Purposive sampling method was utilized and the sample was drawn (N= 40). The subjects were randomly assigned to one control (N=15) and two experimental groups (ACT group, N= 13; ER group, N= 12). The control group did not receive any treatment. The research instruments included Procrastination Assessment Scale-Students (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003), and the Beck Depression Inventory (1967). Data were analyzed using ANCOVA. The results revealed that after controlling the covariate variable (pre-test scores), there were significant differences among the three groups (depression: F=14.81, p<0.01; resilience: F=9.84, p<0.01; academic procrastination: F=15.15, p<0.01). Pairwise comparison demonstrated that both interventions were more effective compared with the control group. ACT group had a better performance in resilience, depression and academic procrastination. Compared with emotion regulation training, ACT reduced academic procrastination and depression and increased resilience to a higher extent in students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Keywords

• acceptance and commitment
• emotion regulation
• resilience
• depression
• academic procrastination