A Critical Review of Social Skills Research with Behaviorally Disordered Students

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Deficits in social skills are a distinguishing characteristic of behaviorally disordered individuals. There is an established relationship between deficits in interpersonal skills and long term adjustment difficulties, such as juvenile delinquency, bad conduct discharges from the military, and psychiatric hospitalization. In addition, employers consider social competencies to be more important than specific occupational skills. Thus, the development of social competence is important for behaviorally disordered individuals. Over the last 5 years numerous studies have evaluated social skill enhancement strategies. The present review was conducted to evaluate this research. The results indicate that: (a) research has failed to build a comprehensive body of knowledge due to the absence of a conceptual base; (b) training priorities have not been matched to learner needs or characteristics; (c) the social significance of program effects has generally been ignored; (d) independent and dependent variables have not been evaluated and applied with equal precision; (e) investigators often fail to evaluate the generality of effects to other settings, responses, and time; and finally (f) research has not shown that community adjustment can be enhanced through training.