The effectiveness of mindfulness on intolerance of uncertainty and cognitive flexibility in students with social anxiety

Subject Areas : Psychological Models and Methods

زهرا نقش ¹ , reza ali tarkhan ² , Sharare Nankali ³

1 - دانشگاه تهران
2 - Assistant Prof. of Curriculum, College of Education and Psychology, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
3 - MSc Student of Educational Psychology, College Education and Psychology, Tehran University, Kish International Campus, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2025-09-22 Accepted : 2025-12-13 Published : 2025-12-20

Keywords: mindfulness-based intervention, intolerance of uncertainty, cognitive flexibility ,

Abstract :

Abstract

Background and purpose: Reducing uncertainty intolerance and increasing cognitive flexibility in students with social anxiety improves their performance in academic and social areas and prevents the occurrence of behavioral problems. The aim of this study is to develop a mindfulness-based intervention for students with social anxiety and to investigate the effectiveness of this program on intolerance of uncertainty and increasing cognitive flexibility.

Methods: A quasi-experimental research design with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based intervention. In order to investigate the effectiveness of the program, 30 students with social anxiety were randomly divided into two groups: experimental and control. Participants in the experimental group received mindfulness-based intervention as a group, and the control group did not receive any intervention. The Freston et al. (1994) scale was used to measure intolerance of uncertainty, and the Dennis and Vanderwaal (2010) scale was used to measure cognitive flexibility. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.

Findings: Compared to the control group, the experimental group showed significant improvement in adaptive emotion regulation, instability/negativity, total attention efficiency, total error, and concentration efficiency.

Conclusion: Considering the findings of the effectiveness of the mindfulness-based intervention, it is recommended to increase flexibility and tolerance of uncertainty in anxious students.

References:

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