| Sumario: | This paper reports a study comparing the impact of two training methods for a life skills module implemented by school teachers. The module aimed at improving coping skills, and mental health of school children in grades 7 to 9. School teachers from 13 schools participated as two experimental groups received different training for using the module in their schools. The control group comprised 3 schools without teacher training. There we 474 students in the experimental I (intensive teacher training) group, 661 students in the experimental II (non-intensive teacher training) group and 441 students in the control group. Instruments used for evaluation were the Young Adult Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (YACOPE) developed by Patterson, McCubbin, and Grochowski (1983), and the 70item, self-administered Thai Mental Health Questionnaire (TMHQ (Pattrayutwat, 1999) for assessing stress symptoms. The results revealed better coping and less stress symptoms, at one month after the intervention in both of the experimental groups compared to the control group (p<0.05). Experimental I group had better coping scores than the experimental II group (F= 5.135, p<0.05) at one month post intervention, however there was no significant different between the mental health scores of both groups (F=0.870, p>0.05). The intensive training method had a greater impact on the early adolescents' coping behaviors than the non-intensive method, while mental health was more stable than coping behaviors.
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