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Training aggressive adolescents in prosocial behavior

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Abstract

The initial outcomes and current directions of a research and treatment program focusing upon Structured Learning Therapy (SLT) are the concerns of this paper. SLT is a psychoeducational approach used successfully in the past with psychiatric and other clients and is now designed to teach prosocial behaviors to aggressive adolescents. Evaluations of such training efforts to date have been largely positive. However, still more favorable skill development outcomes should follow from differential implementation of SLT in which trainee-trainer-treatment matches are prescriptively arrived at and in which major attention is devoted to transfer of training techniques designed to maximize real-life utilization of training gains. The present article describes SLT and its usage with aggressive adolescents, and details guidelines by which prescriptiveness and transfer enhancement may be implemented.

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The preparation of this paper was supported in part by PHS Research Grant MH-13669 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Its assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

Received his Ph.D. in psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 1959.

Received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Connecticut in 1970.

Received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Syracuse University in 1972.

Received his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1968 from Ohio State University.

Received his Ph.D. in psychology from Syracuse University in 1972.

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Goldstein, A.P., Sherman, M., Gershaw, N.J. et al. Training aggressive adolescents in prosocial behavior. J Youth Adolescence 7, 73–92 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01538688

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