Social skills training and cognitive restructuring with sexual unassertiveness in women

From those responding to a newspaper advertisement, 29 female subjects were placed in one of four treatment groups aimed at overcoming sexual unassertiveness. The four groups were: Social Skills Training (SST); Cognitive Restructuring (CR); a combined SST and CR group; and a nondirective placebo discussion group. All treatment groups received four two-hour treatment sessions over four weeks. Self-reports and videotape behavioral assessments were used as dependent measures to monitor changes among the four groups. In general, the results showed that the SST and SST/CR procedures were effective in reducing sexual unassertiveness on the self-report and behavioral rating measures when compared to the control and the CR groups. Women in the SST group showed greatest improvement at posttreatment on the sexual assertiveness role-playing test. However, at three-month follow-up the combined SST/CR group maintained gains in comparison to the other groups. The findings thus suggest that the SST/CR procedures are superior in the treatment of sexual unassertiveness in women.