Thesis:

The effectiveness of life skills training on alexithymia and self-efficacy of female students of the second year of secondary school in Mashhad city

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of life skills training on alexithymia and self-efficacy of female students of the second year of secondary school in Mashhad city. The research method is semi-experimental and the research design is pre-test and post-test with a control group. The statistical population of this research included all female students of the first year of secondary school in Mashhad in 1402-1403. Among the statistical population, using the available and voluntary sampling method and based on the score of the self-efficacy questionnaire (Sherrer et al., 1982) and the Torento alexithymia questionnaire 20 (Bagby et al., 1994) in the pre-test, 30 people who met the entry and exit criteria formed a statistical sample. These 30 people were randomly selected into 2 groups of 15 people, the experimental group received 10 sessions of 90 minutes of life skills training, and the control group did not receive any treatment. Also, covariance test was used to analyze the data and SPSS-22 software was used to speed up the results. The results of the research showed that teaching life skills significantly led to the reduction of alexithymia (difficulty in recognizing emotions, difficulty in describing emotions and extraverted thinking) and increased self-efficacy of female students in the second year of high school. As a result, it can be said that teaching life skills is a suitable approach to reduce alexithymia and increase self-efficacy of female students of the second year of high school.

Keywords: life skills training, alexithymia, self-efficacy, students