An Analysis of the Acquisition and Generalization of Social Skills in Troubled Youths:

Abstract

The acquisition of social skills was analyzed in four emotionally disturbed students (ages 12-14) who were enrolled in an adolescent day treatment program. The youths received social skills training in combination with self-talk and relaxation procedures in order to facilitate generalization. A multiple baseline design across students was used to analyze treatment effectiveness and to assess the extent of generalization to novel scenes and classroom settings. Periodic assessment of social skills, inappropriate classroom behavior, and behavioral and physiological measures of relaxation indicted that the students displayed an increased ability to relax and to use appropriate interpersonal behaviors in simulated social interactions involving scenes not previously trained. However, there was little evidence that newly trained social skills generalized to the youths' classrooms. Discussion focuses on training strategies which may further enhance generalization to natural settings.