The effectiveness of emotional self-regulation training on reducing bullying behaviors of male secondary school students

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of emotional self-regulation training on reducing bullying behaviors of male high school students in Sanandaj. The research method was quasi experimental with pre-test, post-test and control group and Patchin and Hindoja (2011) bullying scale was used as a research tool. For sampling, first a school was selected by cluster random sampling and 40 students with the highest bullying behavior were identified and then randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. In the practical phase of the study, the emotional self-regulation training program was presented to the experimental group in 10 sessions of 75 minutes for 5 consecutive weeks (two sessions per week), while the control group was not exposed to any intervention. Data analyzed using covariance test. Results showed a significant effectiveness of emotional self-regulation training on reducing bullying behavior of students in experimental group both in the experimental and follow-up stages (P <0.05). Based on these findings, it is suggested that emotional self-regulation trainig be included in anti-bullying programs in schools as an effective intervention for reducing bullying behaviors among students.