The Effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Therapy on Moral Development and Impulsivity in Children

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) on enhancing moral development and reducing impulsivity in children. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group was used. The study population included first-grade elementary school children attending psychology clinics in Tonekabon during the first half of 2024. Thirty participants were randomly assigned to the experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group received ten sessions of EFT based on Elliott’s (2001) model. Research instruments included the Moral Development Scale by Lotfabadi et al. (2011) and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (Patton et al., 1995). Data were analyzed using multivariate and univariate covariance analyses (MANCOVA and ANCOVA) in SPSS version 26. EFT significantly improved children’s moral development and reduced impulsivity (p<0.05). Results indicated that 63.9% of the improvement in moral development and 58.6% of the decrease in impulsive behaviors were directly attributed to the therapeutic intervention. Multivariate analysis confirmed significant differences between the groups in all moral (environmental, individual, familial, social, humanistic, and transcendental ethics) and impulsivity components (cognitive, motor, and non-planning), all at p<0.001. Emotion-focused therapy enhances emotional awareness, self-regulation, and moral reasoning in children by strengthening neural connections between emotional and cognitive systems. By reducing emotional dysregulation and impulsive responses, EFT facilitates ethical decision-making and social adjustment. It can therefore be considered an effective intervention for improving emotional and moral growth in children.