Adolescents with social competence deficits: Effectiveness of the JobFit training.

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The JobFit Training, a universal prevention program for adolescents, aims to prevent developmental deviation at the time of transition from school to profession. The present study evaluates the effectiveness of this training, considering adolescents in an educational setting. 78 adolescents, aged between 13.5 and 19.4 years, were the selected from a total sample of 446 adolescents. Inclusion criteria were abnormal prosocial behavior scores assessed with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The social and learning behavior ratings of the adolescents were assessed with the Student Self-Assessment Scale for Social and Learning Behavior (SSL). The comparison of the pre- and posttraining measurements shows significant differences with small and medium effects in the SSL domain ‘social behavior’ and the related scales ‘self-control’, ‘self assertion’, and ‘social contact’ as well as in the SSL domain ‘learning behavior’ and the related scale ‘independent learning’. These findings confirm that JobFit Training as a tool that encourages social skills within adolescent populations with deficits in personal resources.