Training Life Skills for Decreasing Depression

The effectiveness of life skills training in relieving depression was examined. Sixty two female students in grade nine were randomly selected and assigned to an experimental or a control group. Biweekly, the experimental group received life skills training sessions of two hours, for 12 weeks. The both groups completed the Children Dep- ression Scale (Lang & Tisher, 1983) before and after the trai- ning. The results of ANCOVA posited that life skills training significantly decreased symptoms of depression: social prob- lems, and mental preoccupation with illness and death. However there were no significant difference between the two groups in terms of affective response, feelings of guilt, self esteem and pleasure. It appears that a complete treatment of symptoms requires a more extensive training.