The Impact of Transactional Analysis Group Therapy, Schema Therapy, and Emotion-Focused Therapy on Emotional Regulation in Female College Students Following Romantic Breakups

Background: Romantic breakups are a common experience for college students that can significantly impact emotional wellbeing. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of transactional analysis group therapy, schema therapy, and emotionfocused therapy on emotional regulation in female university students experiencing romantic failure.Methods: A quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test control group design was employed. The target population comprised all female university students at Khorasgan University, Isfahan, Iran who had experienced romantic failure in 2022. A convenience sample of 60 female students who met these criteria was selected for participation. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four groups: transactional analysis group therapy (n=15), schema therapy (n=15), emotion-focused therapy (n=15), and a control group (n=15). Each therapy group participated in eight 90-minute sessions. Data were collected using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and Bonferroni post hoc tests were conducted using SPSS version 22 to analyze the data.Results: The results demonstrated a significant difference in post-test scores for both positive and negative emotion regulation between the experimental and control groups (P<0.001). The transactional analysis group exhibited the highest mean score (70.01±3.04) for positive emotion regulation, followed by the schema therapy group (72.26±2.74) and the emotion-focused therapy group (71.66±4.28). The control group showed the lowest mean score (29.20±4.45) (P<0.001). For negative emotion regulation, the control group had the highest mean score (55.86±5.23), while the emotion-focused therapy group showed the lowest mean score (21.46±3.70) (P<0.001). The results indicated that transactional analysis group therapy, schema therapy, and emotion-focused therapy significantly increased positive emotion regulation in female university students experiencing romantic failure compared to the control group (P<0.001).Conclusions: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of transactional analysis group therapy, schema therapy, and emotionfocused therapy in improving emotional regulation among female university students experiencing romantic failure. Future research should investigate the long-term effects of these interventions and explore factors that may influence treatment outcomes.