This study attempts to verify the value of a peer counselor training program by ascertaining the effects of this program on middle school students’ leadership life skills. The participants in this study were the third graders from D middle school in Busan. From the 40 students willing to participate, 20 students were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the other 20 students to the control group. Then the peer counselor training program was performed to the experimental group once a week for 180 minutes, totaling 11 sessions. Following this procedure, the effects on the leadership levels of both groups were verified by both pre-examination and post-examination tests. To analyze the data, a series of ANCOVA was performed to ascertain the changes in the post-examination results caused by the peer counselor training program. Also, students answered written questions to analyze any changes in their leadership levels. As the results of ANCOVA demonstrated, the students in the experimental group showed significant improvement, not only in total leadership scores, but also in their scores of all the sub-scales: ability to achieve goals, recreativity, power of command, ability to manage human relations, a sense of purpose, and so on. The results of this study verified that the peer counselor training program positively affected students’ leadership levels. Therefore, it is necessary to improve students’ leadership life skills through a peer counselor training program during their adolescent period when leadership life skills are developed.
Key words : Peer Counseling, Leadership, Leadership Life Skills