Impact of Life Skills Training on Adolescents’ Inclination to Risky Behaviors: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Abstract

Background: High-risk behaviors of adolescents and failure to correct their insights and attitudes can have many negative consequences. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of life skills training on adolescents’ tendency to engage in high-risk behaviors. Methods: The present study was a randomized controlled clinical trial, in which 100 high school students from both sexes were selected via the multistage cluster random sampling method and divided into the intervention (n = 50) and control (n = 50) groups using the block randomization method with a block size of 4. Eight life skills training group discussion sessions of 45 minutes weekly were held for the intervention groups for two months, and a one-hour follow-up session was held 20 days after the end of the eight sessions. The study instruments included a demographic questionnaire and the Iranian adolescents’ risk-taking scale. After confirming the validity and reliability of the instruments and obtaining written informed consent of the participants, they were asked to fill out the questionnaires. Using SPSS 18, the data were analyzed by standard deviations for quantitative variables and percentages for qualitative data, as well as chi-squared test, the independent t-test, and repeated-measures analysis of variance, the results being reported at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The results showed that life skills training led to significant decreases in the mean scores of high-risk behaviors, including drug abuse, alcohol consumption, smoking, and violence, at different times in the intervention group in both sexes (P < 0.05), while no significant changes were observed in the control group. Conclusions: The results showed that life skills training can reduce adolescents’ tendency to engage in high-risk behaviors.