The Impact of the Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Commitment (MAC) Approach on Emotion Regulation Difficulty and Mental Toughness of beach soccer players

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

1 Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran.

2 Department of physical Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Physical Education, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

10.22091/frs.2026.14394.1126

Abstract

Objective: Despite some positive outcomes from traditional psychological interventions, recent studies have challenged the assumption that negative internal experiences invariably lead to negative behavioral outcomes. Consequently, psychologists have been seeking new approaches to enhance athletes' psychological skills. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment approach on the difficulty in emotion regulation and mental toughness of beach soccer players.
Methods: The method of this study was semi-experimental and applied in its purpose with a pre-test-post-test design. The design included an experimental group and a control group, involving pre-test, post-test, and follow-up stages. From among male players in the Premier Beach Soccer League with at least six years of experience in the sport, 30 individuals were randomly assigned to either the mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment intervention group or the control group. The training for the experimental group consisted of seven 90-minute sessions along with daily homework assignments. To assess the research variables, participants completed the Sheard and Golby (2014) Mental Toughness Questionnaire and the Gross et al. (2010) Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using Mixed analysis of variance at a significance level of p < 0.05.
Results: The results indicated that the mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment intervention had a significant effect on the difficulty in emotion regulation and mental toughness of the beach soccer players.
Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, it appears that mindfulness-based acceptance and commitment training can be used as an effective method for reducing difficulty in emotion regulation and improving the mental toughness of beach soccer players.

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History

  • Receive Date: 03 November 2025
  • Revise Date: 15 February 2026
  • Accept Date: 19 April 2026
  • Publish Date: 22 June 2026

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