Eight weekly group sessions on accepting feelings helped schoolboys put things off less
Who it’s about: Students
- Helped
Boys who learned to accept feelings and act on values put things off less than waiting boys, through two months.
- Action: Clarify what matters to youtested
- Action: Notice the unpleasant feeling and start anywaytested
- Rule: Practise with a groupused
- Rule: In weekly sessionsused
Very small randomised trial of 20 schoolboys in Tehran who put things off · vs boys who were still waiting for the course · they rated themselves · ⚠ numbers unreliable
The study
Who took part
20 boys at one junior high school in Tehran, Iran. They were chosen because they scored above average for putting things off and acting on impulse. 10 were in each group.
What they did
10 boys had eight weekly group sessions of 60 minutes, with homework each week. They learned to accept uncomfortable thoughts and feelings, notice the present moment, and act on what matters to them. The other 10 boys waited for the course.
What happened
The course group said they put things off less at the end and two months later. The waiting group stayed about the same. The paper's tables were hard to read, so the exact numbers are uncertain.
Source
The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Impulsivity and Procrastination Symptoms in First Secondary School Students (2025)
DOI: 10.71610/psych.2026.1222930 (opens in a new tab)Tools in this study
Action2
Notice the unpleasant feeling and start anywayEmotion regulation: name, accept or tolerate the feeling a task brings, then begin.
