The effect of training based on social cognitive theory on the life skills of adolescent girls

Abstract

Objective (s): Adolescence is an important period in life cycle. However, the fast social and cultural changes plus the complexity and diversity of human relationships put pressure on an adolescent, which require psychosocial abilities to cope with. This study investigated the impact of life skills’ training on adolescent girls. Methods: This was an experimental study with pre- and post-test design. The population included student girls aged 12-14 years old in Birjand, Iran, in 2018. The life skills questionnaire of Saatchi and colleagues was used for data collection. The participants completed the questionnaire before and two months after the training. The training included six sessions of a theory-based educational intervention for the adolescents on anger management and stress control skills and a session for their parents. Results: The mean life skills scores were 124.57 ± 43.28 and 148.35 ± 85.25 in the intervention group and 142.4 ± 34.10 and 139.79 ± 95.13 in the control group, respectively indicating that life skills significantly increased in all aspects in the treatment group. Conclusion: The findings suggest that training on anger management and stress control based on social cognitive theory is effective on improving life skills in adolescents.

Keywords

• social cognitive theory
• adolescence
• life skills
• effect of training