| This study investigated the effectiveness of providing a Gottman-based group therapy using art-based interventions to adjudicated male adolescents ages 14-18. The group provided structured interventions based on Gottman’s Sound Relationship House Theory for five consecutive weeks at a Department of Juvenile Justice residential program. The first hypothesis was that by attending the group, the adolescents would experience a change in their communication, social, self-regulatory, and problem-solving skills. If these self-regulatory skills were improved, the adolescents would report a decrease in mental health symptoms. The second hypothesis was that by attending the group and completing art-based interventions, the adolescents would report a change in the parent/child relationship.;Based on the 10 subscales measured by the POSIT, adolescents reported fewer family, vocational, social, and leisure problems. Based on the nine subscales measured by the SCL-90, adolescents reported fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Parent-Child Closeness measures for mother and father were significant, indicating a closer parent-child relationship with fewer parent-child conflicts. No statistical significance was found for the QRI measure. The results of the study offer a preliminary finding to support the use of a Gottman relationship-based adolescent group therapy, utilizing art-based interventions within a Department of Juvenile Justice residential program.;Two mental health measures were collected at pretest and posttest: the Problem Oriented Screening Instrument for Teenagers (POSIT), which has 10 subscales and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), which has nine subscales. Three outcome measures for the parent-child relationship were administered. These were the POSIT, the Parent-Child Closeness (PCC) questionnaire with two scales for mother and father, and the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI), which has three subscales for the mother and father. All measures were analyzed utilizing a Wilcoxin Signed Ranks test. |
