A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness Based Intervention on the Psychological Characteristics of Adolescent Volleyball Players

Shojaei Baghini, Farzaneh; Molanorouzi, Keyvan; Khoran, Hadi; Badami, Rokhsareh

doi:10.22089/spsyj.2026.19210.2676

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness Based Intervention on the Psychological Characteristics of Adolescent Volleyball Players

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original research

Authors

Farzaneh Shojaei baghini ¹

Keyvan Molanorouzi ²

Hadi Khoran ³

Rokhsareh Badami ⁴

¹ Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Faculty of Motor behavior, Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Iran.

² . Department of Motor behavior and Sport Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

³ Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Markazi, Iran.

⁴ Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, Faculty of Motor behavior, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

10.22089/spsyj.2026.19210.2676

Abstract

During adolescence, which is considered a sensitive stage of psycho-social development; It can have profound consequences on the mental health and sports performance of adolescents. The purpose of this research is to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness based intervention on the psychological characteristics of adolescent volleyball athletes. The present research was conducted with a semi-experimental design of pre-test-post-test type with a control group and a 3-month follow-up. In order to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based intervention on the psychological characteristics of volleyball teenagers, 54 volleyball teenagers were selected from Kerman province. Athletes were randomly classified into three cognitive-behavioral intervention groups (18 people), mindfulness-based intervention (18 people) and control group (18 people). The measurement tools in this research were the revised competitive anxiety questionnaire, the irrational beliefs questionnaire, and the psychological characteristics questionnaire of elite athletes. The results of the present study showed that both cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness-based interventions have significantly improved the psychological characteristics of adolescent volleyball players in the post-test and follow-up stages. This finding indicates that structured psychological interventions, regardless of the theoretical approach, can play an effective role in improving the mental preparation of adolescent athletes.

Keywords

Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy

Mindfulness

Psychological Characteristics

Subjects