A short-term cognitive behavioural intervention for impulsive young offenders

The effects of a short-term cognitive behavioural intervention on the enhancement of impulse control and interpersonal problem-solving ability of incarcerated young offenders was investigated. Subjects in the treatment condition completed five 1.5 hour training sessions over the course of a two-week period. The control group completed the assessment battery with a two-week delay between pre- and post-testing. Training in the treatment condition involved the acquisition of a problem-solving strategy to increase impulse control. It was hypothesized that as a result of training, individuals would improve in both problem solving ability and impulse control responses and would show some ability to generalize these skills to untrained problems. Results indicated that the high needs subjects in the treatment condition made improvements on The Means-End Problem-Solving Procedure, The Matching Familiar Figures Test and The Porteus Maze Test. Implications for future assessment and treatment of adolescent offenders are discussed.