| Abstract: | Measured the effectiveness of A. P. Goldstein's (1973) structured learning training (modeling, role playing, and social reinforcement) in teaching parents of adolescents to respond empathically to their children; also measured was the extent to which transfer of training occurs when adolescents participate in training with their parents. 37 mothers of 6th-8th graders volunteered to attend a minicourse on communication. The mothers were divided into 4 groups, including the control group. All groups except the control group received structured learning training in empathy; in 1 group the children did not participate, in a 2nd group the children participated separately, and in the 3rd group they participated with their parents. After 3 wks (6 hrs) of training, the treatment groups showed significantly more empathy. The closeness of the mean empathy scores on the behavioral measure to the scores on the written measure suggested that all 3 treatment groups transferred the skill they had learned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
