The Effect of Life Skills Training and Group counseling via Emotional-Behavioral-Rational Therapy on Academic Self-Concept, Achievement Motivation and Mental Health of Underachievers

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of life skills training and group consuling via rational-emotional therapy on academic self- concept، achievement motivation and mental health of underachievers. The research used a semi-experimental design with pretest، posttes and control group. The population incloded all the second and third grade male high school students (874 persons) in Ravansar city. One high school was selected through random sampling. Then a sample of 45 undera-chievement students were selected and randomly assigned into the two experimental and one control groups (15 students for each group). They responded to Academic Self-concept Questionnaire (Delawar، 1372s. c.)، Achievement Motivation (Hermens، 1970) and Symptom Checklist-25-SCL-25- (Najarian and Davodi، 1380s. c.). Then one experimental group participated in the Life Skills Training for 9 sessions، 60 minutes each، twice a week، each and the other participated in counseling group for 8 sessions، each 70-90 minutes، once a week. Analysis of covariance showed that academic self-concept، achievement motivation and mental health of students، after both interventions، improved and increased، significantly (P=0. 0001). Also، the results showed that there was no significant difference between the effect of life skills training and group counseling. Life skills training and group counseling can be considered as effective approaches in working with underachievers.