the effects of mindfulness training on psychological flexibility and self-regulation behavior in overweight adolescents

Background: emotional eating has already been linked to certain predictors. so, the aim of this study was to determine the effects of mindfulness and diet training on psychological flexibility and self-regulation behavior in overweight adolescents. methods: the present study followed a semi-experimental pretest-posttest design with control group. the statistical population of the study consists of all female teenagers studying in jounior highschools of tonekabon, during the 2018-2019 academic year. 30 students were selected from the population by multistage cluster sampling method; and they were devided into two groups of mindfulness training (n=15), and control group (n=15) by the use of random sampling method. data were collected using the brawan et al.’s self-regulation questionnaire (1991), bond et al.'s the acceptance and action questionnaire (2011) before and after the mindfulness intervention. data were analysed using spss software version 22.0. results: the results of covariance analysis of mindfulness training maifested that mindfulness training was effective on mental flexibility of overweight adolescent girls with f = 161.47, p <0.005. moreover, it was revealed that mindfulness training was effective on mental flexibility of overweight adolescents with f = 376.28, p <0.005. conclusion: according to the results, mindfulness training is effective in improving mental flexibility and self-regulatory behavior of overweight adolescents in the first year of high school with a body mass index above 21.5 (bmi≥21.5) in tonekabon. therefore, mindfulness training method is an efficient, practical and potent method in improving mental flexibility and self-regulatory behavior and can be used by counselors and therapists for this purpose.