Psychological Skill Training and the Aggressive Adolescent

The structured learning approach with aggressive adolescents is described as an example of one of several contemporary approaches to psychological skill training. Thirty evaluation-oriented studies of skills training with such youth are presented and examined. The implications of this body of outcome research are considered for both the current status of psychological skills training, and for its future development. Emphasized in this examination are relevant experimental designs, prescriptive utilization of skills training, means for enhancing trainee motivation, transfer and maintenance, and potential research advances to be derived from research in developmental, social, and community psychology.