Review of stress inoculation training with children and adolescents. Issues and recommendations.

The authors read every published paper on stress inoculation training (SIT) for kids and teens. They found only eight studies. None of them checked what each child actually needed. None planned how skills would move to real life.

The team wrote a simple checklist: assess the child first, then show how to use the skill at home and school.

Zero studies followed both steps. Kids got the same lessons no matter their stress level. No one tracked if the kids used the skills outside the clinic.

The authors warn: without these steps, SIT is just a nice story.

Castells et al. (1979) said the same thing fifteen years earlier. Their classroom self-control review also found no plans for real-world use. The problem is old, not new.

Mazur et al. (1992) looked at self-management for kids with developmental disabilities. Again, papers skipped assessment and generalization. The pattern repeats across ages and diagnoses.

Kestner et al. (2023) moved the field forward. Their choice-based review shows modern studies now list exact steps for moving skills to new places. The 1994 warning helped push later work to do better.

Before you run SIT, test each child’s stress triggers. Use interviews, checklists, or role-play. Then pick lessons that match those triggers. Next, build a generalization plan: send home cue cards, practice in the cafeteria, have teachers give quick praise. These two moves take one extra session each, but they turn SIT from a clinic exercise into a life tool.