Investigating the Efficacy of Relational Savoring among Male Adolescents in Residential Treatment

ABSTRACT

Relational Savoring (RS) is a recently-developed, brief, transdiagnostic intervention that can be administered by paraprofessionals. Although RS has demonstrated efficacy, it has not been examined among at-risk youth. This pilot study adapted RS for the at-risk adolescent population and examined its efficacy. Twenty male youth in residential treatment participated in a four-week long experimental study in which they were randomly assigned to participate in weekly sessions of RS or a savoring control. The study measured participants’ state affect, relationship schema, and attachment styles before and after the intervention. Compared to control participants, participants assigned to RS showed significantly greater reductions in negative affect and attachment anxiety, as well as significantly greater improvements in relational schema. Findings are discussed both in terms of their contribution to theory and as support for a test of the intervention with greater statistical power within this population of youth residing in residential treatment.

KEYWORDS:

• Residential treatment
• relational savoring
• attachment anxiety
• at-risk youth
• relationships

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed on the publisher’s website.

Acknowledgments

This work would not have been possible without the wholehearted support of Mr. Rice as well as the enthusiastic cooperation and assistance provided by the incredible staff at River Stones. A special thank you goes out to the team of dedicated researchers who worked long hours collecting data and delivering the intervention apart from the authors: Hannah Rasmussen, David K Bond, Robyn Roberts, Lucas Sohn and Anthony Gomez.