The Effects of Mindfulness Training on Psychological Flexibility and Self-Regulation Behavior in Overweight Adolescents

Background: Emotional eating has already been linked to certain predictors. So, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of mindfulness and diet training on psychological flexibility and self-regulation behavior in overweight adolescents. Methods: The present study followed a semi-experimental pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population of the study consists of all female teenagers studying in jounior highschools of Tonekabon, during the 2018-2019 academic year. 30 students were selected from the population by multistage cluster sampling method; and they were devided into two groups of mindfulness training (n=15), and control group (n=15) by the use of random sampling method. Data were collected using the Brawan et al.’s Self-Regulation Questionnaire (1991), Bond et al. s The Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (2011) before and after the mindfulness intervention. Data were analysed using SPSS software version 22.0. Results: The results of covariance analysis of mindfulness training maifested that mindfulness training was effective on mental flexibility of overweight adolescent girls with F = 161.47, P 0.005. Moreover, it was revealed that mindfulness training was effective on mental flexibility of overweight adolescents with F = 376.28, P 0.005. Conclusion: According to the results, mindfulness training is effective in improving mental flexibility and self-regulatory behavior of overweight adolescents in the first year of high school with a body mass index above 21.5 (BMI≥21.5) in Tonekabon. Therefore, mindfulness training method is an efficient, practical and potent method in improving mental flexibility and self-regulatory behavior and can be used by counselors and therapists for this purpose.