Objective      To determine the effects of adaptive group psychological training on mental health and emotional states in new recruits.       Methods       Random cluster sampling was used to sample 180 new recruits who joined the army in December 2012. They were divided into experimental group (n=89) and control group (n=91) according to different military companies they belonged to. The experimental group received group psychological training once a week

and each session lasted for 90 to 120 min

for totally 9 times. The control group did not receive any psychological training. Symptom checklist 90 (SCL-90)

self-rating anxiety scale (SAS)

self-rating depression scale (SDS)

and trait anxiety inventory (TAI) were employed to evaluate their mental health and emotional states before and after training.        Results      Except that of somatization

the other factor scores of SCL-90 were significantly lower in the experimental group after than before training (P0.05

P0.01)

while the factor scores of the control group had no significant difference (P0.05)

except that the score of somatization was obviously lower (P0.05). The SAS

SDS and TAI scores were significantly decreased in the experimental group after training (P0.05

P0.01)

while the scores of SDS were increased in the control group (P0.05).       Conclusion      Adaptive group psychological training effectively improves the mental health in new recruits

and help them to relieve anxiety and cope with negative emotions.