Aggression Replacement Training with Behaviorally Disordered Adolescents

This study assessed the effects of a 10-week aggression replacement training program with a group of 39 adolescents with behavioral disorders in residential treatment. Two-thirds of the sample had DSM III-R diagnoses of conduct disorder. Assigned to the treatment group were 25 subjects and 14 subjects were assigned to the control group. Subjects were pre- and posttested on four criterion-referenced measures and one behavior incident measure. Personality characteristics of subjects reflecting possible amenability to treatment were also explored. Results indicate that subjects in the treatment group improved over controls only on one measure: knowledge of social skills. Exploratory analyses indicated that skill knowledge increased across the personality dimensions of self-concept, locus of control, and psychopathy. Strategies are presented for maximizing the probability of demonstrating behavioral gains in future research.