Comparing the Effectiveness of Choice Theory-Based Parenting and Schema Therapy-Based Parenting on Emotion Regulation and Responsibility in Mothers

Document Type : پژوهشی

Authors

Homa Moghimi ¹

Ahmad Ghazanfari ²

¹ PhD in General Psychology, Islamic Azad University of Shahrekord, Shahrekord, Iran

² Associate Professor, General Psychology, Islamic Azad University of Shahrekord, Shahrekord, Iran

10.22067/tpccp.2025.90146.1702

Abstract

Introduction
Parenting is of pivotal importance for children's psychosocial development and the quality of parent-child relationships. The statistical population of the study comprised mothers with children aged 8 to 13 years residing in Isfahan. These mothers, as the primary caregivers, assume a pivotal role in shaping their children's cognitive and emotional schemas. The two approaches, choice theory and schema therapy, were selected based on their distinct theoretical foundations and applicability in the field of parenting. The present study elected to utilize two comprehensive theoretical frameworks for the intervention: the choice theory approach (Glasser, 1998), which emphasizes responsibility and control of personal behavior, and schema therapy (Yang, 2008), which focuses on the modification of early maladaptive schemas. The present study was conceived with the objective of addressing the research deficit concerning the comparative analysis of these two approaches within the cultural context of Iran. The necessity of the research is explained by three main factors: the prevalence of parenting stress and emotional dysregulation in Iranian mothers, the paucity of comparative studies in the field of parenting approaches, and the need to identify the precise mechanisms of intervention effectiveness. The findings of this study provide a scientific basis for designing culturally-appropriate interventions in the field of parenting.
 
Method
The present study was conducted as a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design, incorporating a control group and a one-month follow-up. Convenience sampling was employed to select 30 mothers who had received the lowest scores on the Parenting Relationship Questionnaire (Driscoll, 2011a). These participants were randomly assigned to three groups of 10. The random assignment of subjects to one of three groups resulted in a uniform distribution of confounding effects and reduced systematic differences. The instruments employed in this study included the Child-Parent Relationship Scale (Driscoll, 2011b), the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Kraaij, 2006), and the Social Responsibility Scale (Glenn, 1998). Two distinct educational interventions were administered in person by trained therapists. The first intervention was a 12-session program of choice-based parenting education (Glasser, 1998) that emphasized the concepts of personal responsibility, controlling one's own behavior rather than controlling others, and building relationships based on free choice. The second intervention was a 12-session program of schema therapy-based parenting education (Yang, 2008) that focused on identifying and modifying mothers' early maladaptive schemas, changing dysfunctional communication patterns, and improving emotional regulation. Prior to implementation, the training format was reviewed and endorsed by three psychological experts to ensure uniformity. The collected data were then subjected to analysis using ANOVA with repeated measures and Bonferroni post hoc test in SPSS.
 
Findings
The mean pre-test scores for the cognitive emotion regulation and responsibility variables were comparable across all groups. The mean post-test and follow-up scores of both experimental groups exhibited a significant increase compared to the control group, and this enhancement persisted in the follow-up phase. A repeated-measures analysis of variance demonstrated that the interaction effect of "group" and "measurement phase" was significant for both variables (p < 0.05). In the context of cognitive emotion regulation, a significant discrepancy was observed in both the pre-test and post-test scores (p < 0.001) and the pre-test and follow-up scores (p < 0.001). However, the post-test and follow-up scores did not demonstrate a significant difference, suggesting that the intervention effect remained consistent over time. Both interventions resulted in a significant enhancement in emotion regulation (p < 0.05), with no statistically significant variation in efficacy between the two interventions. With respect to responsibility, the variation in outcomes was substantial at all three stages: pretest to posttest (p < 0.001), pretest to follow-up (p < 0.001), and posttest to follow-up (p = 0.066). While both interventions demonstrated efficacy in comparison to the control group, choice theory-based training exhibited greater sustained effectiveness at the follow-up stage than schema therapy (p < 0.05).
 
Conclusion
The findings of this study demonstrated that both educational interventions resulted in improvements in emotion regulation, which is consistent with the findings of (Saberi Rad, 2019) and (Lanjekar, 2022). The primary innovation of this study was the systematic comparison of two distinct theoretical frameworks and the simultaneous examination of their effects on key psychological variables. The fundamental reason for this enhancement was the skill-based nature of both approaches in providing practical emotion regulation techniques. In the domain of responsibility, education grounded in choice theory demonstrated marked superiority in the follow-up phase, a finding that aligns with the outcomes reported by (Nili Ahmedabadi, 2019). This superiority can be attributed to the fundamental emphasis of this theory on "personal responsibility" and "control of one's own behavior" (Glasser, 1998). The primary benefit of this study was to address the existing research gap by conducting a direct comparison of the effectiveness of the two theoretical approaches in Iran. Furthermore, the concurrent emphasis on the variables of emotion regulation and responsibility as independent outcomes has yielded a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of parenting interventions. The findings align with the research conducted by (Shamsi, 2020), suggesting the longevity of the observed attitudinal shifts. In light of the findings and limitations of this study, it is recommended that both interventions be utilized to enhance emotion regulation. Additionally, the implementation of choice theory training to promote responsibility through the facilitation of regular follow-up sessions and the establishment of self-help groups to bolster the therapeutic effects is proposed.

Keywords

schema therapy

choice theory

parenting

cognitive emotion regulation

responsibility

Subjects

• Family and Marriage

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 Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

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