The effectiveness of behavioral activation therapy on sensation seeking and coping strategies of secondary school boys with antisocial personality disorder

Abstract

Background and Aim:   The effectiveness of behavioral activation therapy on sensation seeking and coping strategies of secondary school boys with antisocial personality disorder. Methods:  In terms of purpose, the current research was of applied type and the method of conducting it was semi-experimental with a pre-test and post-test design with an experimental group and a control group and a three-month follow-up period. Therefore, the statistical population of the research included all male students of the second year of high school who referred to the private counseling clinic of Kerman city in 2022. 30 people were selected by available sampling and randomly assigned to an experimental group (15 people) and a control group (15 people). Then, the behavioral activation treatment package of Cantrell, Bush and Rush (2009) was implemented on the experimental group. In order to collect data, the research tools included Lazarus' Coping Style Questionnaire (1988) and Arendt's Excitement Questionnaire (1992). In the descriptive part, frequency distribution tables were used, and in the inferential part of data analysis, mixed variance analysis with repeated measurements and Bonferroni's post hoc test and SPSS software version 26 were used. Results:  The F-value and significance level were obtained in the analysis of variance with repeated measurement in the variables of coping strategies (F = 9.36 and P = 0.001) and sensation seeking (F = 8.81 and P = 0.002). It can be concluded that the intervention used in this research, namely activation therapy as an independent variable, has significantly caused changes in the dependent variables (coping strategies and sensation seeking). Conclusion:  Based on the available findings, it can be concluded that behavioral activation therapy can be useful for the treatment of antisocial personality disorder patients.