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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapy group and its effect upon the reduction of 2nd and 3 rd grade student’s anger and aggressive behavior. The facilitator’s goals were to teach the participating students the essentials of anger, help them recognize their anger, teach them the differences between controlled anger and out of control anger, introduce techniques to help them manage their anger and teach them alternative methods of expressing their anger.
Each student participant completed the Feelings, Attitudes and Behaviors Scale for Children (FAB-C), pre and post intervention. Each participant’s respective teacher completed the Behavior Assessment System for Children- Second Edition, Teacher Rating Scales (BASC-2-TRS), pre and post intervention. It was hypothesized that 1) Students in the treatment group would self report lower Problem Index scores on the FAB-C as compared to the non-treatment group. It was expected that 2) Scores in conduct on the FAB-C would be significantly lower in the treatment group following intervention as compared to the control group on the self-report FAB-C and 3) Teachers would score the treatment group lower on externalizing behavior as compared to the control group on the BASC-2, after the intervention. Analyses indicated no significant differences were found for Hypothesis 1, Hypothesis 2 and Hypothesis 3. However, although no significant difference was found for Hypothesis 3 the results did approach significance, suggesting that future research may consider utilizing a larger sample size to examine the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral therapy group and its effect on reducing student’s anger and aggressive behaviors.