The Effects of Body Combat and Body Balance Exercises on Mindfulness, Aggression Control and Cognitive Emotion Regulation in Female High- School Students

Background: Mindfulness is defined as the deliberate and non-evaluative awareness of the current moment. This study examined the effects of two training techniques, specifically strength-endurance and balance training, on mindfulness, aggression control, and emotion regulation in female high school students.Methods: The study employed a quasi-experimental approach with a pretest and posttest design, conducted at a high school located in the 3rd district of Tehran, Iran in 2022. Among the 78 eligible female participants, 45 students were selected using a lottery method and were randomly assigned into three groups including body combat, body balance and control groups (each group including 15 participants). The experimental groups exposed to respected exercises for six weeks, with two weekly sessions lasting 45 to 60 minutes. The participants completed the Children and Adolescent Mindfulness Questionnaire (AAMS), the Aggression Questionnaire (AGQ), and the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) in the pretest and posttest. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26, employing ANOVA, paired t-test, ANCOVA, and LSD post hoc test.Results: BMI of the participants was 19.64±1.67. Results showed that in the posttest, body balance and body combat groups had significantly better scores than the control group in mindfulness (3.80±0.46, 3.52±0.68, and 2.95±0.35, respectively, P=0.023), aggression control (1.10±0.33, 1.57±0.47, and 1.77±0.32, respectively, P=0.001) and emotion regulation (5.62±0.52, 507±0.67, and 4.34±0.55, respectively, P<0.001). Moreover, body balance had significantly higher scores than body combat group in terms of mindfulness (P=0.041), aggression control (P=0.004) and emotion regulation (P<0.001).Conclusion: Body combat, and body balance training can be assumed as an important intervention for enhancing the mindfulness, aggression, and emotion regulation among female adolescents. These findings may have practical implications for school teachers, exercise psychologists and occupational therapists.