effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused therapy on distress tolerance and emotion regulation in children of divorce

Background and objective: parental divorce poses a significant psychosocial challenge, profoundly impacting the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral well-being of children. the present study aimed to compare the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (cbt) and solution-focused brief therapy (sfbt) in the enhancement of distress tolerance and emotion regulation among adolescent girls impacted by parental divorce.materials and methods: the present quasi-experimental study utilized a pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with a control group. conducted in izeh city in iran, the study sample comprised 60 adolescent girls aged 12-16 who had experienced parental divorce. participants were purposively recruited from counseling centers and randomly assigned to three equal groups (n=20 per group): a cbt group, an sfbt group, and a control group. the cbt intervention involved 20 sessions, while the sfbt group participated in eight sessions. the distress tolerance questionnaire (dts) and the emotion regulation questionnaire (erq) were administered at pre-test, post-test, and follow-up. the data were analyzed using a repeated measures anova.results: both cbt and sfbt significantly improved distress tolerance and emotion regulation (p<0.001). however, no statistically significant difference was observed between the two intervention groups in terms of their effectiveness.conclusions: these findings indicate that both cbt and sfbt serve as effective interventions for enhancing the mental health of adolescent girls following parental divorce. their utility in ameliorating negative cognitive processes and fostering improved emotion regulation is thus highlighted.