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Abstract
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VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The intent of this article by Deffenbacher et al. was to examine a treatment program for reducing general anger among college students. Two treatments were examined, one that used a strictly cognitive intervention, and one that combined cognitive and anxiety management interventions.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a quasi-experimental design by randomly assigning 45 college students from an introductory psychology course to the two experimental groups and one non treatment control group (n=15 in each group). These students were identified as those who scored in the upper quartile of their peers on the State-Trait Anger Scale (STAS-T; Spielberger, Jacobs, Russell, & Crane, 1983), indicated that they were experiencing a personal anger problem and volunteered when contacted by phone. The measures used to assess both groups fell into three dimensions: 1) General or trait measures included an overall, self-reported level of anger. 2) General anger expression style was assessed vie self-reported tendencies to suppress anger or express it outwardly. 3) Person-specific anger included anger in situations that were unique to the individual such as an ongoing situation or a situation that occurred during the day. State anger was also measured and included levels of physiological arousal and the coping strategies used when aroused. Trait anxiety was evaluated with a Likert scale that addressed how the subjects usually felt. After the participants completed these instruments they were asked to visualize a provocation for one minute and then completed a questionnaire regarding their feelings in the provocation. This assessment occurred on a pretreatment, posttreatment and five-week follow-up basis. After fifteen months, a follow-up survey was also conducted through the mail.
The treatment conditions included eight, weekly, one-hour group sessions. The cognitive therapy, alone (CT), was adapted from Hazaleus and Deffenbacher (1986). The first two sessions included cognitive coping skills rationale, angering self-statements, and coping alternatives to these statements. Sessions three through six addressed the application of cognitive coping skills during different stages of an angering event. During each session some time was spent on constructing coping statements, imagining a scene that would induce anger, and then self-initiating cognitive coping skills to reduce anger arousal. When the cognitive therapy was combined with the relaxation therapy (CRT), an anxiety management training was added. The first two sessions introduced cognitive and relaxation coping skills rationale, progressive relaxation training and relaxation coping skills. Session three emphasized self-statements and cognitive restructuring, while sessions four through seven focused on the application of both skills during different stages of an angering event (identical to the stages identified in sessions three through six of the cognitive therapy, alone). A one-way MANOVA was applied to test pretreatment differences among conditions and a (sex x treatment x trials) MANOVA was run to assess possible therapist differences. Treatment effects were then analyzed by a covariance approach and between-group treatment effects were explored by Tukey post hoc comparison using error terms from the univariate ANCOVAs.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Neither the multivariate main effect for sex or any of the interactions involving sex were significant. In addition, the therapist effects were considered minimal and data were therefore collapsed across therapists. At the five-week follow-up, CT and CRT subjects reported, among other improvements, significantly less general anger, less anger across situations, and less personally relevant anger intensity, than did the subjects in the control group. Furthermore, no significant differences emerged between the CT group and the CRT group on any of these variables. At the fifteen month follow-up, the 75% follow-up rate was not differentially related to CT, CRT or control group membership. Both treatment groups maintained general anger reduction and were not significantly different from each other.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors suggested that future studies replicate these procedures with different therapists and samples. Although the CRT and CT therapies did not demonstrate significant difference, the authors cautioned that perhaps more training on the combined treatment was needed. Furthermore, therapists claimed that the CRT sessions were easier to run due to less client resistance and greater acceptance of the cognitive components. The authors therefore suggested that future research may address the role that the relaxation component has on making the therapeutic process run more smoothly.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Language: en |