Communication skills training for adolescents: A five month follow-up

The purpose of the present study was to provide a follow-up assessment of the effectiveness of a communication skills training program for adolescents. Ninety percent of the subjects from the Haynes (1977) study were involved in the follow-up evaluation (21 control subjects and 22 experimental subjects). A behavioral and a paper and pencil measure were completed five months after training to assess self-disclosure and empathy skill levels. Analysis of Variance on Gain Scores was used to analyze data and results indicated that subjects who received training relative to the untrained subjects, demonstrated significantly higher self-disclosure and empathy skill during the follow-up assessment- Discussion centered around the adolescents' retention of high skill levels and implications for training younger age populations in communication skills-