Comparison of Schema Therapy and Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy on Reducing Depression Symptoms and Perceived Stress in Breast Cancer Patients in Hamedan

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the role of schema modes in predicting separation anxiety with the mediating effect of anger rumination among adolescents. This descriptive-correlational study employed structural equation modeling. The statistical population consisted of all male middle school students in Marvdasht during the 2023–2024 academic year. Using cluster sampling, four schools were randomly selected, and 196 students were chosen based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. Data were collected using the Separation Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (Kovacs et al., 2003), the Schema Mode Inventory (Lobbestael et al., 2010), and the Anger Rumination Scale (Sukhodolsky et al., 2001). Data analysis was performed using Pearson correlation, regression, and path analysis with SPSS-27 and AMOS. The results indicated that anger rumination significantly mediated the relationship between schema modes and separation anxiety. Specifically, anger rumination mediated the associations between maladaptive coping mode (β=0.089, p<0.023), child modes (β=0.197, p<0.001), parent mode (β=0.108, p<0.012), and adaptive-integrated mode (β=0.160, p<0.001) with separation anxiety. The findings suggest that anger rumination functions as a critical mediator linking schema modes to separation anxiety in adolescents. Psychological interventions should, therefore, simultaneously focus on modifying maladaptive schema modes and reducing anger rumination to alleviate separation anxiety.