EFFECTS OF RATIONAL EMOTIVE EDUCATION AND RATIONAL EMOTIVE EDUCATION PLUS RATIONAL EMOTIVE IMAGERY ON THE ADJUSTMENT OF DISTURBED AND NORMAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDRE

The present study investigated the effectiveness of Rational Emotive Education in improving the emotional and behavioral adjustment of normal children in regular elementary school classes, and disturbed children in special education classes. In addition, the specific effects of Rational Emotive Imagery were investigated when this technique was incorporated into the regular Rational Emotive Education program. A total of four dependent measures were used which specifically assessed content acquisition (rational thinking), self-concept, trait anxiety, and classroom behavior.;The subjects were 106 male and female children ages eight through twelve, attending three public elementary schools in Suffolk County, New York. Children in the disturbed group were enrolled in special education classes designed for children displaying significant emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. The normal children were enrolled in regular fifth-grade classes.;There were two experimental groups, Rational Emotive Education (REE) and Rational Emotive Education Imagery (REE + REI), and an attention-control condition consisting of a human relations course. Intact classes were randomly assigned to one of these three treatments.;The results of the study offered support for REE with the added imagery component, insofar as it was significantly more effective than the attention-control condition in increasing rational thinking. However, the REE alone condition demonstrated no superiority over the attention-control treatment on any of the dependent measures. Neither the experimental treatments nor the human relations course produced significant changes in self-concept, anxiety, or behavior. The greater effectiveness of the REE + REI treatment over the REE treatment suggested that guided imagery can be an effective technique with normal children.;The results offered partial support for the hypothesis that normal children would demonstrate greater treatment gains than would disturbed children. Significant differences were found between these groups on the measures of rational thinking and self-concept.;Interpretation of these results were discussed, particularly the explanation of the failure of the REE treatments to produce significant changes on the measures of adjustment. The differences between behaviorally disturbed children and normal children, and the resultant effects upon the treatment was also discussed. Implications and suggestions for future research were given.