The effectiveness of emotion regulation training on meta-worry, mind wandering, and repetitive negative thinking in adolescent girls with anxiety symptoms

Many adolescent girls suffer from anxiety, and modifying their emotional responses can be effective in alleviating their symptoms. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of group-based emotion regulation training on meta-worry, mind wandering, and repetitive negative thinking in adolescent girls with anxiety symptoms. A quasi-experimental design with pretest, posttest, and a three-month follow-up, along with a control group, was employed. Thirty female students with elevated anxiety symptoms based on self-report screening (BAI score ≥ 8) were selected from Saba Technical and Vocational High School in Bouin Zahra city. A multi-stage cluster random sampling method was used: first, Saba School was randomly selected from among 12 public schools, and then one class from each grade was randomly chosen. After screening with the Beck Anxiety Inventory, 30 eligible participants were randomly selected and assigned to either an experimental group ( n = 15) or a control group ( n = 15). The experimental group received an 8-session emotion regulation training protocol based on the process model of Gross and Thompson (2007). Data were collected using the Meta-Worry Questionnaire (MWQ), the Mind Wandering Scale (MWS), and the Repetitive Negative Thinking Questionnaire (RNTQ) at three time points. Data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA and ANCOVA) for posttest comparisons, and repeated-measures ANOVA to assess the stability of the effects. The results of MANCOVA revealed a statistically significant overall effect with a large effect size on the combined set of dependent variables ( p = 0.002, η² = 0.476, 95% CI [0.214, 0.678]). Univariate analyses indicated a significant and sustained reduction in both mind wandering ( p < 0.001, partial η² = 0.447) and repetitive negative thinking ( p = 0.022, partial η² = 0.193), with large effect; however, the intervention did not have a significant effect on reducing meta-worry ( p = 0.078). These findings suggest that while emotion regulation training is an effective intervention for reducing the attentional-cognitive manifestations of anxiety in adolescent girls, it may be insufficient for altering deeper, more entrenched metacognitive beliefs, thus warranting more specialized therapeutic approaches.