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Abstract:
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The purpose of the present study was to determine some effects of interpersonal skills training on the interpersonal competence, communication, and need satisfaction of college freshmen. Specifically, it was hypothesized that students receiving interpersonal skills training relative to a control group of students would demonstrate a greater increase in interpersonal competence, openness of communication, and need satisfaction. The experimental group was composed of first semester Arts and Sciences freshmen (13 males, 16 females) who were selected at random and invited to enroll in a 15-week interpersonal skills training course. First semester Arts and Sciences freshmen (9 males, 14 females) enrolled in a randomly selected freshmen English course comprised the control group. Both groups completed the measures during the first and last week of class. Results indicated no significant differences between the experimental and control groups on any of the measures due to treatment. The experimental group, however, did demonstrate more absolute increase on all measures except one, though not to the point of significance. Possible reasons for lack of significance were discussed and included: the invited students who ultimately enrolled in the skills training course felt a deficit in their own competence; an increased awareness of competence among experimental group students may have influenced a lower self rating at posttest; and the measures selected for this study may not have been sensitive enough to short-term change or the treatment itself not potent enough to affect change within this time period. Although it cannot be supported from this study that interpersonal skills training enhances students' levels of interpersonal competence, communication, or need satisfaction, the investigator proposes additional research to more tightly control for extraneous variables before final conclusions are draw. |