| Violent and aggressive behavior exhibited by school age children is a public health problem of large proportions. Researchers have found that aggressive behavior is a stable behavior pattern that has been linked to physical, social, emotional, vocational, and academic difficulties such as delinquency, substance use, depression, and school drop out. Over the last century, psychologists have sought to better understand the development and manifestation of aggression and to develop related treatments. Cognitive behavioral, classroom based interventions have provided the most promising results in reducing violence and aggression in school age children. However, further research is needed to better understand the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral, school-based interventions in reducing aggressive acting out behavior. The current study attempted to bridge this gap through the examination of a 10 week cognitive behavioral, classroom based anger management program on the behavior of 45 children, with a mean age of 13, attending a private school for emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children. A repeated series design with a treatment and no treatment group was used to assess the impact of the program over 3 time periods: pre-treatment (T1), treatment (T2), and post-treatment (T3). Dependent measures included: Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist-Teacher Report Form (CBCL-TRF), the Kellner Knowledge Quiz, Monthly Teacher Rating Form, Focus Meeting Team Rating Scale, anger logs, school's incident reports, and the Social Interaction Observation System. Implementation fidelity was assessed through the Curriculum Adherence Measure. At follow-up, participants in the treatment group exhibited a significant reduction in aggressive behavior as measured by the school's incident reports. In addition, participants in the treatment group completed significantly more anger logs, compared to their non-program peers at T2 and T3. At T2, participants in the treatment group exhibited significantly more positive verbal and nonverbal behavior than their non-program peers. No significant differences were detected between groups on the CBCL, the Monthly Teacher Rating Scale, the Focus Team Meeting Rating Scale, and on behavior observation scales measuring negative and non-interactive negative behaviors. Implications of these findings are discussed. |
