Forecasting anger and aggression: An analysis of anger management treatment for misdemeanor offenders

Anger management is often used as an opportunity to rehabilitate clients and represents the most popular model for working with violence in forensic clinical settings. Research has shown that most anger management programs are created for clients with domestic violence histories and much of the literature investigates aggression as a pattern of power and control within intimate relationships. However, this study took the necessary steps in advancing scientific knowledge in the specialization of criminal justice and criminology and fulfilled an important gap in the literature about the value of anger management treatment in low-level offender populations. The purpose of this quantitative correlational and multiple regression study was to investigate the relationships between offense type and time in anger management treatment, and aspects of anger and aggression. Little research has demonstrated how the misdemeanor-level offense a person commits (i.e assault, disorderly conduct, threatening and intimidating, and criminal damage), relates to aspects of anger and aggression and whether offense type and time in treatment is predictive of normal to low levels of anger and aggression responses once anger management treatment has been provided for some time. The research literature finds that poor anger control has been shown to have significant associations with aggression and other problematic behavior and that anger is one of the most common precipitators of violence. The results of this study involving 56 misdemeanor-level, court-ordered study participants, indicate no significant correlations between offense type and anger management treatment, on anger and aggression variables. Furthermore, the study did not find that offense type or time in anger management treatment were significantly predictive of anger and aggression responses/behaviors. Lastly, the study found that misdemeanor-level offenders attending court-ordered anger management treatment do not typically display any greater than normal levels of anger and aggression. Notwithstanding, the study data did reveal that gender is predictive of tendencies towards physical aggression, which may be something to explore in future research. Strategies for guiding future policy with longitudinal research initiatives were expounded and recommended, and suggestions for further research were offered.