Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Training on Academic Procrastination and Adjustment to School among High School Girl Students

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Shiraz University International Division

2 Shiraz University

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) training on academic procrastination and adjustment to school among high school girl students. This study was semi-experimental study with two groups and pre-test and post-test. The statistical population of the present study comprised all high school girl students of the 10th grade of Mashhad in the academic year of 1396-97. To select the participants, a random multi-stage cluster sampling method was used. A total of 60 students were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. To collect the data, academic procrastination and adjustment to school questionnaires were used. For data analysis, the method of One-Way Covariance Analysis of Variance (ANCOVA), and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) were used. The findings showed that the effectiveness of ACT training on academic procrastination, and social, emotional, and academic adjustment were statistically significant (P<0.001). According to the research findings, it can be concluded that ACT training can lead to decreasing academic procrastination and promoting high school students’ social, emotional, and academic adjustment.

Keywords

Main Subjects


Aynur, P., Murat, A., Can, B. (2011). Academic procrastination behavior of pre-service teachers’ of Celal Bayar University. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 29, 1418 – 1425.
Beswick, G., Rothblum, E. D., & Mann, L. (2017). Psychological antecedents of student procrastination. Australian Psychologist, 23(2), 207-217
Boysan, M., & Kiral, E. (2017). Associations between procrastination, personality, perfectionism, self-esteem and locus of control. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 45(3), 284-296.
Brown, K. W., & Ryan, R. M., & Creswell, J. D. (2007). Mindfulness: Theoretical foundations and evidence for its salutary effects. Psychological Inquiry, 18(4), 211-237.
Burckhardt, R., Manicavasagar, V., Batterham, P. J., Hadzi-Pavlovic, D., & Shand, F. (2017). Acceptance and commitment therapy universal prevention program for adolescents: a feasibility study. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 11(1), 27.
Constantin, K., English, M. M., & Mazmanian, D. (2018). Anxiety, depression, and procrastination among students: Rumination plays a larger mediating role than worry. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 36(1), 15-27.
Duru, E., & Balkis, M. (2017). Procrastination, self-esteem, academic performance, and well-being: A moderated mediation model. International Journal of Educational Psychology, 6(2), 97-110.
Eifert, G. H., Forsyth, J. P. (2005). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Anxiety Disorders. Oakland, CA. New Harbinger.
Farahbakhsh, K., Sedrpooshan, N., Ashja, M., & Setoode, Z. (2013). Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on reduce of depression in housewives in Tehran. Journal of Cultural Education in Women and Family, 7(19), 185-167.
Flaxman, P. E, Blackledge, J. T., & Bond, F. W. (2011). Acceptance and commitment therapy: distinctive features. New York.
Fooladchang, M. (2006). The role of family patterns in the adjustmentability of adolescents. Family Studies Quarterly, 2(7), 209-221. (PERSIAN).
Forman, E. M., Herbert, J. D. (2008). New directions in cognitive behavior therapy: acceptance based therapies. In W. O’donohue, & J. Fisher, (Eds.), Cognitive behavior therapy: Applying empirically supported treatments in your practice, Hoboken.
Glick, D. M, Millstein, D. J., & Orsillo, S. M. (2014). A preliminary investigation of the role of psychological inflexibility in academic procrastination. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 3(2), 81-88.
Glick, D. M., & Orsillo, S. M. (2015). An investigation of the efficacy of acceptance-based behavioral therapy for academic procrastination. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(2), 400-409.
Goroshit, M., Hen, M., & Ferrari, J. R. (2018). Life-domain regret regarding procrastination (LDR-P): Scale validation in the United States and Israel. Current Psychology, 1-13.
Häfner, A., Oberst, V., & Stock, A. (2014). Avoiding procrastination through time management: An experimental intervention study. Educational Studies, 40(3), 352-360.
Halliburton, A. E., & Cooper, L. D. (2015). Applications and adaptations of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for adolescents. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 4(1), 1-11.
Harris, R. (2008). The happiness trap: How to stop struggling and start living: A guide to ACT. Durban, South Africa: Trumpeter   Publishers.
Hasar, S. I., Nikdel, F., & Kharamin, S. (2015). The effectiveness of cognitive- behavioral techniques training on procrastination, stress, anxiety and depression of high school female students. Armaghane-danesh, 19(12), 1105-1117.
 
Hayes, S. C. (2016). Acceptance and commitment therapy, relational frame theory, and the third wave of behavioral and cognitive therapies–republished article. Behavior Therapy, 47(6), 869-885.
Huynh, V. W., & Fuligni, A. J. (2017). Ethnic socialization, discrimination, and the academic adjustment of adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds. UCLA CCPR Population Working Papers. 
Ivanova, E., Lindner, P. M., Ly, K. L., Dahlin, M., Vermmark, K., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2016). Guided and unguided acceptance and commitment therapy for social anxiety disorder and/or panic disorder via the internet and a smartphone application. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 44, 27-35.
Jowkar, B., & Delavarpour, M. T. (2007). Procrastination relationship with achievement goals. The Journal of New Thoughts on Education, 3(3), 80-61. (PERSIAN).
Kabat-Zinn, J., Massion, A. O., Kristeller, J., Peterson, L. G., Fletcher, K. E., Pbert, L., Lenderking, W. R., & Santorelli, S. F. (2007) .Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 149(7), 936-43.
Lim, J. W., Phang, J. Y., Low, M. Y., & Tan, C. S. (2017).  Procrastination is detrimental to undergraduate students’ self-rated creativity: The mediating role of state anxiety. Creativity: Theories–Research-Applications, 4(1), 99-115.
Managa, S., & Chandrasekaran, V.  (2015). A study on adjustment of college students. Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(16), 2622-2629.
Mehrdoost, Z., Neshatdoost, H. T., & Abedi, A. (2014). Effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy on the decrease of self-focused attentions and improving self-efficacy. Journal of Psychological Models and Methods, 3(11), 67-82. (In Persian).
Meirav, H., & Marina G. (2012). Academic procrastination, emotional intelligence, academic self-efficacy, and GPA: A comparison between students with and without learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2(1), 1-9.
Morrison, K. L. (2017). Effects of acceptance and commitment therapy on impulsive decision making. Utah State University.
Mustaffa, C. S., & Ilias, M. (2013). Relationship between students’ adjustment factors and cross cultural adjustment: A survey at the Northern University of Malaysia. Intercultural Communication Studies, 22(1), 279-300.
Pettus, K. R. (2006). The relationship of parental monitoring to community college student adjustment and achievement: differences by gender, ethnicity, parental education level, and student residence. Diss. University of South Carolina.
Rahimi, A., Sohrabi, N., Rezaei, A., & Sarvghad, S. (2018). Comparison of the efficacy cognitive behavioral and acceptance and commitment therapy group in cognitive emotion regulation on substance use stimulus patient (Methamphetamine). Journal of Psychological Models and Methods, 8(30), 53-68. (In Persian).
Rebetez, M. M. L., Rochat, L., Barsics, C., & Van der Linden, M. (2018). Procrastination as a self-regulation failure: The role of impulsivity and intrusive thoughts. Psychological Reports, 121(11), 26-41.
Saghi, M. H., & Rajaee, A. R. (2008). The relationship between adolescents' perception of family function and their adaptation. Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology, 3(10), 71-82. (PERSIAN).
Semprebon, E., Amaro, H. D., & Beuren, I. M. (2017). The procrastination influence on academic performance and the moderating role of personal sense of power. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 25, 20.
Sinha, A. K. P., & Singh, R. P. (1993). Manual for Adjustment Inventory for School Students. Agra: National Psychological Corporation, 48, 281–90.
Sobhi, N., Hajlo, N., & Babaiee, K. (2014). The effectiveness of time management skills training on students’ procrastination.Journal of Psychological Models and Methods, 4(15), 91-101. (In Persian).
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31(4), 503-509.
Swain, J., Hancock, K., Hainsworth, C., & Bowman, J. (2014). Mechanisms of change: Exploratory outcomes from a randomized controlled trial of acceptance and commitment therapy for anxious adolescents. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 4(1), 56-67.
Van der Gucht, K., Griffith, J. W., Hellemans, R., Bockstaele, M., Pascal-Claes, F., & Raes, F. (2017). Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Adolescents: Outcomes of a large-sample, school-based, cluster-randomized controlled Trial. Mindfulness, 8(2), 408-416.
Wang, S., Zhou, Y., Yu, S., Ran, L. W., Liu, X. P., & Chen, Y. F. (2017). Acceptance and commitment therapy and cognitive–behavioral therapy as treatments for academic procrastination: A randomized controlled group session. Research on Social Work Practice, 27(1), 48-58.
Yellaiah, A. (2012). A study of adjustment on academic achievement of high school students International Journal of Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Research, 1(5), 84-94.
Zettle, R. D. (2008). ACT with affective disorders. In Hayes, S. C., & Strosahl, K. D. (Eds.), A practical guide to acceptance and commitment therapy. New York, NY: Springer.
69–191.