An investigation of group and individual counseling as remedial methods for working with junior-high-school underachieving boys

Abstract

1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM This study was undertaken in order to shed light on two related questions: 1. Is comseling per se effective in assisting underachieving boys at the junior-high-school level in an upper-middle-class community to achieve greater personal growth and to be able to function more adequately in an academic environment than might be possible without such counseling? 2. If counseling is effective in working with underachieving boys, which is the more effective method, group counseling or individual counseling, or is there no difference between the two? 2. METHODS AND PROCEDURES Underachieving boys in the sixth and seventh grades were identified at the end of the 1962-1963 school year. Ability as measured by a standardized group-ability test was correlated with grade-point averages of the four academic subjects, mathematics, science, English, and social studies. A regression model was used to determine predicted grade-point averages. Underachievers were identified on the basis of the discrepancy between actual and predicted GPA's. [TRUNCATED]