This study evaluated a preliminary version of “Equipping Youth to Help One Another” [EQUIP; Gibbs and Potter, 1987; Gibbs et al., in press], a multi-component group treatment program for juvenile delinquents and other youths with antisocial conduct disorders.
EQUIP assimilates the social skills training, anger management, and moral education components of Aggression Replacement Training [ART; Goldstein and Glick, 1987] into a modified Positive Peer Culture [PPC; Vorrath and Brendtro, 1985] group format. The subjects were 57 male juvenile offenders aged 15-18 who were incarcerated at a medium-security correctional facility. The subjects were randomly assigned either to the EQUIP experimental unit or to one of two control groups. EQUIP subjects compared to control subjects evidenced significant improvements in institutional conduct and recidivism rates, reflecting, to some extent, gains in social skills. (publisher abstract modified)