Effectiveness of life skills training on social adjustment and coping with stress among second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran

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1 Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management Vol. 3, Issue. 3,205 Effectiveness of life skills training on social adjustment and coping with stress among second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran Aliakbar Nahang, Department of Clinical Psychology, College of human science, Saveh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Saveh, Iran. shaghayegh.usefi@yahoo.com Amirhooshang Mehriyar, Member of faculty, Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of education and research in planning and management, Tehran,Iran mehr@dena.irpd.ac.ir Saeid Jahanian Member of faculty, Department of Health Psychology, College of human science, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran Dr.saeedjahanian@psymehretaban.ir Abstract The present research was aimed to study the effectiveness of life skills training on social adjustment and coping with stress among second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran. The present investigation was practical in terms of objectives. Moreover, it was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest plan in terms of data collection. The population consisted of all the second grade high school male students among whom 40 individuals were chosen as a sample size in two experimental (20 persons) and control (20 persons) groups using random sampling technique. The experimental group was trained for 8 sessions in the area of life skills and the control group received no treatment. California test of personality of Thorpe et al. (939) and styles of coping with stress of Lazarus & Folkman (974) were used in order to collect data which the Cronbach's alpha method was used to investigate the questionnaire's reliability and the values were obtained more than 0.7 for both the questionnaires. Moreover, content validity was employed to check the validity which the questionnaires were approved by the relevant experts for this purpose. Data analysis was carried out in two descriptive and inferential sections. The findings indicated that life skills training leads to social adjustment (personal and social) in students. In addition, life skills training results in increasing task- oriented coping style and reducing emotion-oriented coping style. Therefore, it seems that life skills training could improve the level of adjustment in students and present a more effective method and technique for coping with stress and negative emotions. Keywords: life skills training, social adjustment, coping with stress` Introduction Transition from childhood to adolescence is influenced by important changes in emotional and cognitive levels (Holt, 20). Adolescence is a period in which obvious biological, cognitive, social and emotional changes take place (Pompili et al, 2009). In fact, apart from neonatal period, we will not experience changes to this extent. During this period, adolescents experience puberty which influence their physical, physiological and psychological growth (Faramarzi et al, 203).On the other hand, school day challenges are also sources of stress for adolescents and endanger their health so that these challenges sometimes influence their ability to learn (Karekla & Panayiotis, 20). The time is full of development and changes in the field of social relationships and cognitive capacities for adolescents. Based on this, adaptation to new conditions and coping skills for dealing with these changes positively have been taken into consideration. Some of the variables could be in connection with the secondary traumatic stress. According to Mori et al. (2003), "coping" refers to the methods used to manage stressful situations (cited in Orozco, 2007). Lazarus (2000) expressed that there are two types of coping with psychological pressure: ) task-oriented coping in which one focuses on the stressful factors and tries to take constructive measures in order to change the situation, and to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships, self-awareness, empathy, etc. (Fathi et 637

2 Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management Vol. 3, Issue.3,205 al, 2006) and 2) emotional-oriented coping in which the person tries to inhibit himself from emotional consequences resulting from exigent events. A relevant investigation indicated that emotion-focused coping strategies are associated with high levels of personal distress (Friedman, 200). Moreover, it was mentioned in another similar research that emotion-focused coping strategies play an important role in predicting stress negatively but the share of task-oriented coping strategies relationship was not significant (Riolli & Savicki, 200).On the other hand, human relations to meet the basic human needs have been taking under consideration and positive and healthy relationships with others have been considered as a key to human growth and perfection. Relationships form one's behavior in a social context and play an important role in the uniqueness of personality, identity and self-concept at the same time. Gudashtayn and Latyun (995) defined adjustment as a continuous process in which one's social learning experiences lead to creation of his psychological needs and also provides the possibility of acquisition of some abilities and skills through which his needs and demands could be answered. Taylor et al. (2008) defined social adjustment synonymous with social skills. According them, social skill is the ability to interact with others. Accordingly, employment of psychology in finding new ways of life and prevention of individual, family, occupational and social issues and problems are of the applications of psychology in the today's world. Life skills training programs are among the applications of psychology in various individual and social fields which are held with the aim of promoting physical and mental health and preventing mental, physical and social damages. These skills enhance individuals' abilities in effectively dealing with the exigencies of life together with today's stress and anxiety. Moreover, it is like a primary prevention factor (Welford, 2005)."Life skill" is a set of abilities which enhances adaptability and positive and efficient attitude, so the person will be able to accept responsibilities related to his social role without doing damages to himself or others. Moreover, he can face the challenges and problems of everyday life effectively (Pitman, 2004). Fathi et al. (2006) defined life skills as approaches based on changes or shaping behaviors in which balancing between the three areas of knowledge, attitude and skills is considered. Life skills are sets of psychological abilities which lead to adaptability and positive and efficient attitude, so the person will be able to accept responsibilities related to his social role and he can encounter daily difficulties, problems, expectations and demands without doing damages to himself or others. In fact, life skill trainings are done with the purpose of increasing psychosocial abilities, preventing development of behaviors harmful to health and improving one's mental health level (Nuri and Mohammadkhani, 2008).Researchers approved the positive impact of life skills training on reducing high-risk behaviors and increasing adjustment, self-reliance and selfconfidence. Many researches have been conducted on the impact of life skills training on different dimensions of mental health and the results demonstrated that training of these skills leads to improvement of social skills and interpersonal communication, increase in positive social behavior and social adjustment, increase in satisfaction of the family system and compatibility with the family and increase in coping skills (Botvin & Griffin, 2004; Kazemi et al, 20).Boothwyn and Contour (2007; cited in Hatami & Kavousian, 203) indicated that life skills training reduces the symptoms of depression in students. In addition, implementation of life skills training results in changes in the participants' behavior and enhancement of proper social adjustment and this leads to adjustment, enhancement of coping skills and incidence of social behaviors. Albertine et al. (20) also demonstrated that life skills training helps the individuals to be more flexible in the presence of changes, have higher self-esteem and show more abilities in controlling problems and issues. Ghadri et al. (202), Botvin and Griffin (2004), Campbell (2006), Ashouri et al. (203) and Amiri Baramkuhi et al. (202) conducted studies on students separately and approved the effectiveness of life skills training on public health.the importance of the research comes from the importance of training life skills in schools which could be realized from the researchers' findings and results. Schools play an important role in prevention and mental and psychological health of the student, for this reason, schools have been supported by the prevention programs. Such programs are interventions that empower adolescents in the field of life skills such as dealing effectively with psychological stress, social adjustment, problem solving, anger control and decision making. Therefore and according to what has been mentioned, researchers believe that the ability of people in life skills is the main axis of social development, formation of social relationships, quality of social interactions, social adjustment and even increasing the coping skills (Theodore et al, 2005). These are cases that are required for adolescents and youth who are studying. Hence the present research is aimed to answer to the following question. Does life skills training have impact on social adjustment and styles of coping with stress among second grade high 636

3 Effectiveness of life skills training school male students in region 4 of Tehran?According to the question and the previous investigations, the research hypotheses are as, - Life skills training has impact on the styles of coping with stress of the second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran. 2- Life skills training has impact on adjustment (social, personal) of the second grade high school male students in r`egion 4 of Tehran. Finally, the research conceptual model is presented in figure. Life Skill Training Students' Adjustment: Personal Adjustment Social Adjustment Styles of Coping with Stress: Emotion-oriented Task-oriented Figure. Conceptual model of the research (Thorpe, Clark and Tiegs (cited in Khodayarifard et al, 2006); Lazarus & Folkman (974) Methodology The present investigation was practical in terms of objectives. Moreover, it was a quasi-experimental research with pretest-posttest plan in terms of data collection. The population consisted of all the second grade high school male students among whom 40 individuals were chosen as a sample size in two experimental (20 persons) and control (20 persons) groups using random sampling technique. The experimental group was trained for 8 sessions in the area of life skills and the control group received no treatment.data collection tool in the present research consisted of California test of personality of Thorpe et al. (939) and styles of coping with stress of Lazarus & Folkman (974). California test of personality: this test measures the person's social and personal adjustment and was published by Thorpe, Clark &Tiegs in 939 for the first time (cited in Khodayarifard et al, 2007) and was republished in 953. The test has 5 age levels from preschool to adulthood (preschool, elementary school, secondary school, high school and adulthood), which the high school level was considered in the present investigation. The test consisted of two major levels of self-adjustment and social adjustment. Each of the tests has six scales and the high school level has 5 questions for each of the scales. Therefore, there are 80 questions in the test.there is no report related to the validity of the test in the test instruction manual and it has been just mentioned that "the questions were chosen based on the judgment of the teachers and administrators and students' respond together with biserial correlation coefficient". Internal consistency of the test was carried out using Spearman-Brown split-half method. The values for the subscales of social adjustment were between "α=0.87" and "α=0.90". This shows appropriate internal consistency of all the six subscales.the internal consistency of the "California test of personality" in the research carried out by Khodayarifard et al. (2006) was calculated using Cronbach's alpha method. The coefficient was 0.98 for the total test and this results in appropriate internal consistency of the test. The reliability coefficients for the scale of "personal adjustment" were between 88% and 90% and it was between 86% and 90% for the scale of "social adjustment". Moreover, the total values were between 9% and 93%. According to Khojaste Mehr (202), using Cronbach's alpha method (a measure of internal consistency), the reliability coefficient was equal to 0.7 for the scale of "social adjustment" and this leads to acceptable reliability of the scale. Lazarus-Folkman coping questionnaire: this questionnaire was designed by Lazarus and Folkman in 974 and consisted of 637

4 Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management Vol. 3, Issue.3,205 eight scales of confronting coping, distancing, self-controlling, seeking social support, accepting responsibility (accountability), escape-avoidance, plan-full problem solving and positive reappraise. Scoring of the questionnaire is based on two methods of relative and crude. Crude scores refer to coping efforts for each of the eight types of coping and total responses of the subjects to the ingredients of the scale. In both the methods, one answers the questions based on a 4-point Likert scale which the frequency is as: zero indicates "I have not used", one indicates "I have used rarely", two indicates "I have used sometimes" and three indicates "I have used a lot". The questionnaire's validity was investigated through Cronbach's alpha method (a measure of internal consistency) and the results indicated the proper validity. Alduin and Rownson analyzed the revised version of the questionnaire of coping strategies practically and approved its validity (cited in Agha Yusefi, 200).Factor analysis of the components of the test demonstrated that the test's scales are located in two main categories of emotional-oriented coping (confronting coping, distancing, self-controlling and escape-avoidance) and task-oriented coping (seeking social support, accepting responsibility, plan-full problem solving, positive reappraise) (Khodadadi, 2004).The questionnaire was implemented with no time limit and the participants were asked to answer the questions based on the 4-point Likert scale (I have not used, I have used rarely, I have used partially and I have used a lot) together with visualizing the experienced situation. Moreover, 5 to 8 items were considered to measure each of the coping strategies. Eventually, scores on each of the scales were calculated and the coping strategies which the participants use in the case of stress were compared.lazarus reported the validity for each of the ways of coping between 0.66 and In addition, Aghajani (996) presented a value of 0.8 for each of the ways of coping and Khodadadi (2004) reported the total reliability coefficient of the test equal to Moreover, the Cronbach's alpha method was used to investigate the questionnaire's reliability and the values were obtained more than 0.7 for the questionnaire which this indicates the reliability of the research tool. The mentioned questionnaire was distributed among a group of the second grade high school male students and the obtained data was analyzed according to the descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Findings Using proper statistical models, each of the research hypotheses was evaluated. The first hypothesis: Life skills training has impact on the styles of coping with stress of the second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran.Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANOCOVA) was employed in order to investigate the influence of "life skills training" on "styles of coping with stress" of the students which the results are mentioned in table 3 and table 4. The results were approved by the assumptions such as homogeneity of variance-covariance matrix and homogeneity of variance error. Table 3. Summary of multivariate analysis of covariance to investigate the impact of life styles training on strategies of coping with stress Test power Effect Sig. Error Assumed F Wilks Effects size DOF DOF lambda Group According to the above table, the Wilks Lambda index is significant at 0.0 level (Wilks Lambda=0.56, F=4.05, P=0.0 and η 2 =0.445). On other words, it can be said that there are significant differences between the groups. Therefore, the univariate analysis with the first type error correction (using Bonferroni method) was used to find out that "what are the differences relevant to the strategies of coping with stress". The significance level of the hypotheses testing was considered equal to in this method in order to control the first type error. Table 4. One-way analysis of covariance between the participants to study of the impact of life skills training on strategies of coping with stress 637

5 Effectiveness of life skills training Size effect Sig F Mean square DOF Total squares Variable Focused on problem solving Focused on emotion Change source Group Focused on problem solving Focused on emotion Error Focused on problem solving Focused on emotion Total Based on what has been mentioned above, there are significant differences between the groups in both the strategies of coping with stress considering the amount of Bonferroni alpha (0.025). Therefore, it can be concluded that "life skills training has impact on adjustment (social and personal)" so that the average of "the strategies focused on problem-solving" of the students who were trained in life skills increases while the scores of their "emotional-oriented strategy" in the posttest decrease. The effect size indicates that almost 39.4% of the variance of "strategies focused on emotion" could be explained through assignment to the groups. This value is equal to 8.8% for "strategies focused on problem-solving".the second hypothesis: Life skills training has impact on adjustment (social, personal) of the second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran.Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANOCOVA) was employed in order to investigate the influence of "life skills training" on "adjustment" of the students which the results are mentioned in table 5 and table 6. The results were approved by the assumptions such as homogeneity of variance-covariance matrix and homogeneity of variance error. Table 5. Summary of multivariate analysis of covariance to investigate the impact of life styles training on adjustment (social and personal) Test power Effect Sig. Error Assumed F Wilks Effects size DOF DOF lambda Group According to the above table, the Wilks Lambda index is significant at 0.0 level (Wilks Lambda=0.66, F=9.08, P=0.0 and η 2 =0.342). On other words, it can be said that there are significant differences between the groups. Therefore, the univariate analysis with the first type error correction (using Bonferroni method) was used to find out that "dispersion in which of the dependent variables has led to the significance of the Wilks Lambda". 647

6 Jurnal UMP Social Sciences and Technology Management Vol. 3, Issue.3,205 Table 6. One-way analysis of covariance between the participants to study of the impact of life skills training on adjustment (social and personal) Size effect Sig. F Mean square DOF Total squares Variable Change source Focused on problem solving Focused on emotion Group Focused on problem solving Focused on emotion Error Focused on problem solving Focused on emotion Total Based on what has been mentioned above, there are significant differences between the groups in both the components (social adjustment and personal adjustment) considering the amount of Bonferroni alpha (0.025). Therefore, it can be concluded that "life skills training has impact on adjustment (social and personal)" of the second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran. The highest effect size is for social adjustment (0.279). It means that about 27.9% of the variance of "social adjustment" of the participants is dependent to life skills training. This value is about 8% for the component of "personal adjustment". Conclusion After analyzing the data in this study and testing each of the research hypotheses, the obtained results were compared with the findings of the previous studies and the further explanation or analysis of this review is mentioned in the following. The first hypothesis: Life skills training had impact on adjustment (social, personal) of the second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran.Data analysis demonstrated that the training could affect both the components of adjustment. It can be expressed in explanation of the finding that helping to the adjustment of people is one of the most important results of improving life skills. According to the definition, adjustment refers to effective and healthy interaction and engagement of the person with his environment. Hence two processes occur at the same time: adapting one to the conditions and changing the conditions to reconcile them with one's needs (Lazarus & Folkman, 984; cited in Avison et al, 200). Therefore, these trainings helps the individuals to understand their emotions and feelings appropriately, evaluate them precisely, find out rational and irrational thoughts associated with them, etc. When the subjects come to the knowledge, they believe that their imagination have impact on positive and negative emotions and feelings to some extent. Therefore, they can control them with the trained skills and this leads them to adjustment.social adjustment reflects useful and constructive interactions of the person with his environment and surroundings, especially friends and peers. Life skills trainings lead the people to realize most of their mental and psychological characteristics and features and accept them with greater transparency. In the process of education and training, students can understand that there are differences between them and they have to accept and continue their relationship even with the existence of such differences and distinctions. They can achieve group harmony and eventually, they can have peaceful living with the help of life skills trainings.it seems that the students in the experimental group evaluated their subjective beliefs and perceptions during receiving training. Moreover, using these trainings, they came to this conclusion that they can control their stress under any circumstances, understand themselves better, realize the problems and issues and adopt constructive and proper solutions when required. They finally could have consistent and healthy personality and follow actual and reasonable life goals. Totally, the findings of the research indicated that life skills trainings help to the promotion of the children's consistency in all aspects of life. In addition, it is considered as one the most basic prevention 647

7 Effectiveness of life skills training programs at the primary level.the present research was in line with the investigations such as Albertine et al. (20), Lou et al. (2008), and Felton and Revenson (2008). The second hypothesis: Life skills training had impact on the styles of coping with stress (task-oriented and emotional-oriented) among the second grade high school male students in region 4 of Tehran.The results demonstrated that life skills training had influence on the use of styles of coping with stress. This means that styles of coping with stress enhanced in students who were trained in life skills such as effective techniques of coping with stress, abilities of problem solving and decision making, ability to establish effective interpersonal relationship and self-consciousness (Wenzel et al, 2009). It can be said in explanation of the effectiveness of life skills trainings programs on the students that on one hand, it can lead the person to greater recognition of himself, identify his strengths and weaknesses and correct them. Creating awareness of the strengths and weaknesses helps the person to use more appropriate and effective methods and strategies in dealing with problems. Therefore, he can decrease his stress. On the other hand, group training can have a positive impact on reducing stress because gathering of people in a group and make them feel that they have something in common are effective in reducing stress and increasing selfesteem. Moreover, muscle relaxation training, which is a component of life skills training program, could be an effective factor in reducing stress.life skills training program enhances the use of task-oriented coping strategy in adolescents. In this regard, it can be expressed that life skills training program leads to reducing uncertainty in decision and reducing inability to cope with everyday life problems through training the process of correct decision-making and solving problems. In addition, since some of the task-oriented coping strategies are stress control (being aware of increasing stress and its causes), structuring (collecting data about the stressors, querying on the available support resources and designing ways to use it) and social skills (self-presentation and intimacy), these skills are trained during the program of life skills training. Consequently, the person tries to control the stress factors through reducing or eliminating the unpleasant consequences of stress, and use task-oriented coping strategies more than before in stressful situations.further, the research findings demonstrated that life skills training program decreases taskoriented coping strategy in stressful situations. It can be said in explanation of the result (means effectiveness of the program of life skills training on reducing the use of emotional-oriented coping strategies) that training positive social behavior, creation of the position of internal control, increasing assertiveness, positive self-concept, appropriate verbal and nonverbal social skills, ways of dealing with psychological pressures and ways of dealing with stressful situations and muscle relaxation lead the person to control emotional reactions. The present research was in line with the findings of Ghadri et al. (202), Karekla and Panayiotis (20), Moghadam et al. (204), Ashrafi and Monjazi (203) and Khal atbari and Azizzadeh (20). Based on the research findings, the following recommendations could be proposed: To consider life skills training in "in-service training programs" for consultants and teachers and also in "knowledge enhancement programs" for parents in order to make them play an important role in compatibility of the students and enhancing their educational attainment. To consider life skills training as a subject in the curriculum of schools. To hold workshops and classes in this regard in order to improve the students' mental and psychological health. To study the research variables together with the variables such as social skills, self-confidence, self-concept and emotional intelligence. It is proposed to the other researchers to implement the present research with follow-up period among male and female students in order to specify the role of the impact of this type of training scientifically in addition to determining the stability of the impact of the provided trainings. 647

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