Further psychodrama with delinquent adolescents

It was postulated that an integration of behavioral-cognitive techniques within a psychodramatic group therapy framework would reduce delinquents' acting-out tendencies and improve ego strength. The population consisted of a control and an experimental group of adolescents aged 14 to 16 of both sexes that were adjudicated delinquent. There were ten adolescents in the control group and initially eleven adolescents in the experimental group (only seven completed the twelve ninety-minute sessions). Both pre- and posttest measures on the Jesness, the High School Personality Questionnaire, and the I-E Scale were administered to the two groups of subjects. The results showed that significant improvement occurred in the delinquents' asocial index (.01 level), ego strength (.05 level), and introversive tendencies (.01 level). This study demonstrated that behavioral contracting, monetary reinforcement, and alternative behavioral rehearsal can be effectively integrated with more traditional psychodramatic techniques to reduce delinquents' acting-out tendencies.