Differential Benefits of Skills Training With Antisocial Youth Based On Group Composition: A Meta-Analytic Investigation

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 38 studies of social skills training interventions with antisocial youth was performed. Also examined were treatment effects for interventions that differed in group composition. The intervention studies yielded an overall effect size of.62 at posttreatment. As predicted, skills training interventions delivered in the context of groups consisting of only antisocial peers produced smaller benefits than did skills training interventions that avoided aggregating antisocial peers (i.e., groups comprised prosocial and antisocial youth or individual treatment). For those 18 studies for which follow-up data were reported, treatments provided in the context of either mixed or individual treatment also produced larger follow-up effect sizes than did deviant-only group interventions. These findings add to a growing body of evidence of smaller treatment benefits associated with skills training provided in the context of groups composed exclusively of antisocial participants. Implications for the recruitment of prosocial peers for inclusion in skills training interventions for aggressive and antisocial youth are discussed.

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Notes on contributors

Rebecca P. Ang

Rebecca P. Ang received her Ph.D. in School Psychology from Texas A&M University in 2000. She is currently an Assistant Professor with the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Her primary research interests are in the areas of developmental psychopathology and juvenile delinquency.

Jan N. Hughes

Jan Hughes received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1976, specializing in School Psychology. Currently, she serves as Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies, and Faculty Development for the College of Education at Texas A&M University. She is the author of more than 50 refereed journal articles, 14 book chapters, and two scholarly books and editor of two books in school and clinical child psychology. Her primary research foci are the prevention of conduct disorders in aggressive youth, teacher-student relationships, and effective processes in school consultation. She is particularly interested in studying risk and protective mechanisms among aggressive children.