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This study investigated the effectiveness of cognitive self-management training as an adjunct to the behavioural management of childhood obesity. Twenty-seven overweight children aged 7-13 years were randomly assigned to either behavioural management plus relaxation placebo or a combined behavioural-cognitive self-management approach. Evaluations following the eight treatment sessions revealed a significant reduction in percentage overweight for children in both experimental groups and improvements were maintained at 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Both conditions were also effective in reducing the number of high-risk foods consumed. No difference in outcome was found between treatments at the post-treatment assessment or 3- and 6-month follow-ups. Although a reduction in percentage overweight of around 9% was found for both procedures, subjects in general remained considerably overweight.

Forty-six unassertive Ss were randomly assigned to assertion training (AT) or waiting-list control conditions. Ss receiving AT showed significantly greater improvements from pretreatment to post-treatment on 8 out of 10 questionnaire measures of assertiveness and 3 out of 5 direct behavioral observation measures compared with the waiting-list group. 27 Ss who had completed the AT program were then randomly assigned to 1 of 3 booster conditions, namely, monthly assertion training boosters (ATB), monthly attention placebo boosters (APB), or no boosters (NB). At the 3-month follow-up there was minimal difference between booster conditions. By the 6-month follow-up the results favored the ATB condition. Although the APB procedure was effective in preventing the relapse shown by the NB subjects, the ATB group actually showed further improvements on some measures of assertiveness during the 6-month follow-up period.

Fifty children aged from 7 to 12 yr were identified as either isolated or rejected by peers on the basis of sociometric nomination. Subjects were randomly assigned to either social skills training (SST), attention placebo control (APC) or no-treatment control (NTC). Social skills training was not found to produce beneficial effects for either isolates or rejects over and above any changes within the APC or NTC groups. Rejected children in all experimental conditions showed minimal improvement over time whereas isolated children in all groups tended to show improvements in social competence.

Seventy convicted young male offenders were videotaped during a 5-min standardized interview with a previously unknown adult. In order to determine the social validity of the behavioral components of social interaction for this population, measures of 13 behaviors were obtained from the tapes. These measures were then correlated with ratings of friendliness, social anxiety, social skills performance, and employability made by four independent adult judges from the same tapes. It was found that measures of eye contact and verbal initiations were correlated significantly with all four criterion rating scales. The frequencies of smiling and speech dysfluencies were both significantly correlated with ratings of friendliness and employability. The amount spoken was found to be a significant predictor of social skills performance whereas the frequency of head movements influenced judgments of social anxiety. The latency of response was negatively correlated with social skills and employability ratings and the frequency of question-asking and interruptions correlated significantly with friendliness, social skills, and employability ratings. Finally, the levels of gestures, gross body movements, and attention feedback responses were not found to influence judgments on any of the criterion scales. The implications of the study for selection of targets for social skills training for adolescent male offenders are discussed.

The article presents a study conducted by researchers from School of Psychology at the University of Australia about the efficacy of universal, indicated and combined cognitive behavioral approach as an intervention for youth depression in Queensland and South Wales. Result shows 85 percent of adolescents with high risk of youth depression, which means that the approaches do not reduce depression diagnoses more than no intervention applied.