Enhancing cognitive emotion regulation, and responsibility in male incarcerated adolescents through social cognition training based on cognitive behavioral methods

Adolescents transition into independent adulthood during puberty, facing a unique shift that challenges their socio-cognitive abilities. This challenge becomes intensified for incarcerated Adolescents, who often exhibit higher levels of psychological distress. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of social cognition training, emphasizing the cognitive behavioral approach in emotion regulation and self-reported responsibility of prisoners under 18 in Shiraz Juvenile Reformatory Center. This census study included all 30 eligible incarcerated male adolescents in the Shiraz Juvenile Reformatory Center who met the inclusion criteria and were assigned to the experimental and control groups. The research method was semi-experimental with a control group. The tools used in this study were the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and the Responsibility Scale from California Psychological Inventory (CPI). The research procedure involved pretesting both groups, followed by administering 12 two-hour social cognition training sessions (based on cognitive-behavioral methods) solely to the experimental group. After the termination/completion of the sessions, both groups were tested. Furthermore, a follow-up test was conducted/administered three months after the training. Data were analyzed using univariate analysis of covariance. The findings indicated that social cognition training significantly affected cognitive emotion regulation and responsibility.