The effectiveness of life skills training on assertiveness and social desirability of students

Subject Areas : روان درمانگری

Vahid Sarmadi Soltan ¹ , Farshad Zareei Miankali ² , Hossein Salimi Bejestani ³

1 - MA in Family Counseling
2 - MA in Rehabilitation Counseling
3 - PhD Allameh Tabatabaii University

Received: 2015-07-10 Accepted : 2015-07-10 Published : 2013-09-23

Keywords: life skills training, assertiveness, social desirability,

Abstract :

The aim of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of life skills training on assertiveness and social desirability of the university students studying social sciences at Kermanshah Razi university. Forty participants out of 500 first year students participated in the study. The participants, with moderate to low assertiveness and with moderate to high social desirability randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. The experimental group received 18 life skills training sessions twice a week for 90 minutes and the control group received no treatment. The Assertiveness Scale (Lee, Hallberg, Slemon, & Haase, 1985) and the Social Desirability Scale (Crown & Marlowe, 1960) were administered to the participants before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the analysis of covariance method. The results indicated that assertiveness and social acceptance were significantly different in the experimental and the control groups. The findings suggested that life skills training enhanced assertiveness and social desirability.