The efficacy of life skills training on social adjustment and critical thinking of adolescents

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to determine the efficacy of life skills training on social adjustment and critical thinking in adolescent girls and boys. Method: This study was quasi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design and follow-up stage. The statistical population included 985 adolescent girls and boys in high schools in Sirjan. According to the condition resulting from Coronavirus, 40 subjects were selected by convenience method and were randomly assigned to experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups. The experimental group was trained by the Life Skills Package of Nikpour (2004) for 10 sessions and the control group did not receive any training. Both groups completed the Singh and Sinha (2003) Social Adjustment Inventory and the California Critical Thinking skills test (1990). The data collected were analyzed using repeated measures of variance. Results: The findings of this study indicated that social skills training is effective on social adjustment (F=7.54, P=0.001) and critical thinking (F=6.84, P=0.002). And this effect was stable at the follow-up stage (P = 0.05). Conclusion: It is accordingly concluded that life skills training, as an underlying mental health skill, is an effective approach in social adjustment of adolescent girls and boys.