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Teaching Prosocial Behavior to Antisocial Youth (From Youth Violence: Prevention, Intervention, and Social Policy, P 253-273, 1999, Daniel J. Flannery and C. Ronald Huff, eds. -- See NCJ-184963)

NCJ Number
184973
Author(s)
Arnold P. Goldstein Ph.D.
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes a responsive intervention strategy and a developmental sequence of psychoeducational, reformity prescription interventions that attempt to operationalize the strategy.
Abstract
The chapter describes the Aggression Replacement Training (ART) program, a three-component training intervention. The program comprises: (1) Skillstreaming, a systematic, psychoeducational intervention aimed at teaching a 50-skill curriculum of prosocial behaviors. It teaches youngsters behaviors they may use instead of aggression; (2) Anger Control Training, which teaches the inhibition of anger, aggression and, more generally, antisocial behavior. It teaches chronically angry and aggressive youth to respond to provocation less impulsively, more reflectively and with less likelihood of acting-out behavior; and (3) Moral Education. This segment of the program exposes youngsters to an extended series of moral dilemmas in a discussion-group context. The resolution of these cognitive conflict situations is intended to advance a youngster's moral reasoning to that of peers with higher-level moral thinking. The chapter includes efficacy evaluations of the ART program and descriptions of programs which have grown out of the ART approach. Table, references