Effect of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on reducing aggression in students

Background: Students’ aggression at schoolshas attracted the attention of many professionals and researchers. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on the reduction of male secondary students' aggression in Kermanshah.

Methods: In this experimental study, a pretest-posttest control group design was used. A total of 400 students were randomly selected from among the high school male students in Kermanshah using multistage sampling. Of these, 40 students who had a higher mean score were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group underwent with mindfulness-based cognitive therapy once a week for eight sessions. The subjects completed Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire (1992) twice, one before treatment and another after treatment. The data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).

Results: The results of multivariate analysis of covariance showed that after removing the effect of pretest, the experimental group indicated a significant reduction compared to the control group in the total aggression scale (F=1059.531; P<0.001). Also, after removing the effect of the pretest, the experimental group experienced a significant decrease compared to the control group at the micro scales of aggressive feeling (F=639.936; P<0.001), the subscales of aggressive thoughts (F=154.240; P<0.001), and aggressive behaviors (F=502.836; P<0.001),.

Conclusion: This study showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduced aggression in all three components of aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts and aggressive feelings in the students.