The effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral self-esteem group training on assertiveness, self-efficacy, Social anxiety and Shyness of the social anxious school boys

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral self-esteem group therapy on assertiveness, Social anxiety, Shyness, and self-efficacy social anxious high school boys in year 2010–2011. The research method was quasi-experiment with two group's pretest-posttest design. The population contains of the third and second grades high school boy students of Ilam city. Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) was administrated to 240 with of cluster random sampling method, 32 individuals were selected using structured clinical interview for social phobia, based on diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV. The subjects were then randomly assigned into two groups each with 16 members: the control group and the experimental group. The Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), Revised Cheek And Buss Scale(RCBS), self-efficacy scale, and assertiveness for adolescent scale, were administered at pre test to all participants. The experimental group was trained in self-esteem group training via thirteen group sessions on a weekly. During this period no intervention was given to the control group. Then questionnaires were administered again at post test. The result of multiple covariance analysis indicated that self-esteem group training significantly decreased the amount of social anxiety and Shyness in the experimental group as compared to the control group (P=0.0001).This training caused significant increase in the scores of assertiveness and self-efficacy in the experimental group as compared the control group (P=0.0001). Findings of this study revealed that self-esteem group training can significantly and effectively increase assertiveness and self- efficacy, it also reduced social anxiety and Shyness.