The Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Training on Social Anxiety, Empathy, and Interpersonal Sensitivity of Students with Specific Learning Disorders

Rahimpour, Saba; Haroonrashidi, Homayoon; Hasanpour Hashtijani, Ebad Allah

doi:10.22098/jld.2026.18064.2272

The Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Training on Social Anxiety, Empathy, and Interpersonal Sensitivity of Students with Specific Learning Disorders

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Psychology, Dez. C., Islamic Azad University, Dezful, Iran

10.22098/jld.2026.18064.2272

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of emotion regulation training on social anxiety, empathy, and interpersonal sensitivity of students with specific learning disabilities.
Methods: The research method was a quasi-experimental design with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The statistical population of the study was children aged 10 to 13 with learning disabilities in Dezful in 2025. The sample size of the study included 30 of these children who were selected using purposive sampling and according to the study inclusion and exclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to the experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. The experimental group received the educational intervention for 8 weeks and 8 60-minute sessions. The questionnaires used in this study included social anxiety (Connor et al., 2000), empathy (Baron-Cohen et al., 2003), and interpersonal sensitivity (Bayes and Parker, 1989). The data were analyzed by multivariate and univariate analysis of covariance using SPSS version 22 software and a significance level of 0.05.
Findings: The findings showed that there was a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of social anxiety, empathy, and interpersonal sensitivity (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Given that emotion regulation training improved social anxiety, empathy, and interpersonal sensitivity, this method can be used as an effective method to reduce social anxiety and interpersonal sensitivity and increase empathy.

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