نویسندگان:
بهاره قانع خیاط استاد1 ، علی مشهدی2 ، زهرا حسین زاده ملکی3 .1گروه روان شناسی، دانشکده علوم تربیتی و روان شناسی، دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد، مشهد، ایران
2دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد
3استادیار، گروه روانشناسی، دانشکده علوم تربیتی و روان شناسی، دانشگاه فردوسی مشهد، مشهد، ایران
چکیده فارسی: این پژوهش با هدف بررسی اثربخشی مداخله فرزندپروری حمایتی برای هیجانات اضطرابی دوران کودکی (SPACE) بر راهبردهای سازگارانه و ناسازگارانه نظمجویی شناختی هیجان انجام شد. روش پژوهش، طرح نیمهآزمایشی به شیوه پیشآزمون-پسآزمون و پیگیری 30 روزه با گروه گواه بود. جامعه آماری شامل مادران دانش آموزان 7 تا 12 سال دبستانهای آقا مصطفی خمینی و خلیج فارس شهر مشهد دارای مشکلات اضطرابی بودند که تعداد آنها 68 نفر بود و از میان آنها 54 نفر پس از مصاحبه و بررسی ملاکهای ورود به پژوهش به صورت تصادفی در گروه آزمایش (29 نفر) و گروه کنترل (25 نفر) جایگزین شدند. گروه آزمایش 6 جلسه 60 دقیقهای مداخله فرزندپروری حمایتی برای هیجانات اضطرابی دوران کودکی را به صورت هر هفته 1 جلسه دریافت کردند. شرکتکنندگان در سه مرحله پیشآزمون، پسآزمون و پیگیری به وسیله پرسشنامه نظمجویی شناختی هیجان- فرم کودکان (Garnefski et al. 2002) مورد ارزیابی قرار گرفتند. دادهها از طریق نرم افزار SPSS-24 و آزمون تحلیل واریانس چندمتغیره با اندازهگیریهای مکرر تحلیل شدند. نتایج حاکی از اثربخشی مداخله فرزندپروری حمایتی برای هیجانات اضطرابی دوران کودکی بر کاهش راهبردهای ناسازگارانه نظمجویی شناختی هیجان (01/0>p) و افزایش راهبردهای سازگارانه نظمجویی شناختی هیجان (01/0>p) و و ماندگاری تاثیر آن در دوره پیگیری بود (01/0>p). با توجه به نتایج پژوهش، پیشنهاد میشود درمانگران و متخصصان بالینی، مداخله فرزندپروری حمایتی برای هیجانات اضطرابی دوران کودکی را بهمنزله رویکرد درمانی مؤثر در زمینه بهبود نظم جویی شناختی هیجان مدنظر قرار دهند.
The effectiveness of Supportive Parenting for Childhood Anxious Emotions (SPACE) in adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies
English Abstract: Introduction Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychological disorders in childhood, characterized by excessive fear, worry, and avoidance; they are associated with adverse outcomes in academic, social, and emotional domains (Walter et al., 2020). Evidence suggests that a considerable proportion of children and adolescents experience some level of anxiety during development. If these problems persist, they may contribute to the emergence of psychological disorders in adulthood (Gleason & Thompson, 2022). Therefore, identifying factors involved in the development and maintenance of anxiety and designing effective interventions to reduce it are of critical importance.One of the key factors associated with childhood anxiety is difficulty in emotion regulation. Research has shown that children with anxiety-related problems, compared to their peers, face greater challenges in managing and modulating negative emotions. In addition, they are more likely to use maladaptive strategies in coping with stressful situations (Daros et al., 2021). In this regard, cognitive emotion regulation refers to conscious cognitive processes used to interpret and manage emotional events and includes both adaptive and maladaptive strategies (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2007). Studies have also highlighted the crucial role of parents in shaping children’s emotion regulation abilities, showing that supportive parental responses to children’s negative emotions are associated with better emotional adjustment and fewer anxiety problems (Hurrell et al., 2015). In recent years, researchers’ attention has increasingly focused on parent-based interventions for treating childhood anxiety. Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) is a novel approach in this field that aims to improve children’s emotional functioning by reducing parental accommodation behaviors and increasing supportive responses (Lebowitz et al., 2020). Research findings have supported the effectiveness of this program in reducing childhood anxiety and improving family interactions (Lebowitz et al., 2021; Rozenblat et al., 2025). However, there is limited evidence regarding the impact of SPACE on cognitive emotion regulation strategies, particularly in the Iranian context. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of SPACE on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in children with anxiety symptoms. Method This study used a quasi-experimental method with a pretest–posttest design and 30-day follow-up with a control group. The statistical population consisted of mothers of 7- to 12-year-old students with anxiety symptoms in elementary schools (Agha Mostafa Khomeini and Khalij Fars) in Mashhad, Iran. After initial screening using the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (parent form) and clinical interviews, 54 eligible participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 29) and a control group (n = 25). The data collection instrument was the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for Children (Garnefski et al., 2002), which assesses adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The experimental group participated in six weekly 60-minute group sessions of SPACE (Lebowitz et al., 2021), while the control group received no intervention. Data were collected at three time points: pretest, posttest, and follow-up. To examine the effectiveness of the intervention, total scores of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies were analyzed first, followed by analyses of subscales. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 24) through MANOVA with repeated measures test. Findings A total of 54 children with anxiety symptoms were included in the study and assigned to experimental and control groups. The two groups did not differ significantly in demographic features, including age and gender. Descriptive statistics for the study variables are presented in Table 1. Descriptive findings indicated that the two groups were comparable at pretest in terms of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. However, at posttest and follow-up stages, the experimental group showed an increase in adaptive strategies and a decrease in maladaptive strategies, whereas no substantial changes were observed in the control group. The significance of these differences was examined using MANOVA with repeated measures test. Prior to conducting the MANOVA with repeated measures test, statistical assumptions, including normality, homogeneity of variances, and homogeneity of covariance matrices, were examined. The results indicated that all required assumptions for the analysis were met. The results showed that at pretest, the two groups were comparable in terms of adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. However, at posttest and follow-up, the experimental group demonstrated a significant increase in adaptive strategies and a significant decrease in maladaptive strategies compared to the control group, while changes in the control group were negligible. Repeated-measures analysis of variance confirmed significant effects of time, group, and the time × group interaction (p < 0.001), indicating the effectiveness of the SPACE intervention and the maintenance of its effects at follow-up. Overall, the SPACE intervention improved the overall pattern of cognitive emotion regulation in children with anxiety symptoms. The Bonferroni post-hoc test results indicated that at posttest, there were significant differences between the experimental and control groups in both adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (p < 0.001). Specifically, the experimental group showed a significant increase in adaptive strategies and a significant decrease in maladaptive strategies compared to the control group. At the 30-day follow-up stage, these changes remained stable, and significant differences between the two groups were still observed in terms of both main variables, indicating the sustained effects of the SPACE intervention over time. Conclusion This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of SPACE on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies. The results showed that the intervention significantly increased adaptive strategies and reduced maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies in children with anxiety symptoms; these effects were maintained at the 30-day follow-up. These findings are consistent with previous research (Hurrell et al., 2015; Lebowitz et al., 2020;2021; Morelen et al., 2016). The findings can be explained by the fact that the SPACE program, through training parents to reduce accommodative behaviors and increase supportive responses, creates a safe and predictable environment for the child. In this framework, parents learn to avoid facilitating avoidance or providing excessive reassurance and instead convey acceptance of the child’s emotions and confidence in the child’s ability to tolerate anxiety. This shift in the parent–child interaction pattern gradually strengthens adaptive cognitive strategies, such as acceptance, positive refocusing, and perspective-taking, while reducing maladaptive strategies, such as rumination, catastrophizing, and self-blame. From a theoretical perspective, the effectiveness of SPACE can be explained through the reduction of parental accommodation and the enhancement of emotional support, which leads to improved emotion regulation and reduced emotional dependence in the child. Overall, this intervention promotes cognitive emotion regulation by modifying parent–child interactions. Study limitations include the short follow-up period, reliance on self-report measures, and sample attrition. Future research is recommended to include longer follow-up periods, multi-informant assessment methods, and the involvement of both parents in the intervention. It is suggested that clinicians use SPACE as an effective approach to reduce anxiety problems in children. Acknowledgments We sincerely thank all the respected participants who made the conduct of this study possible through their valuable cooperation. Conflict of interest This article is derived from a Master’s thesis in Clinical Psychology at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, and the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.