This study aims to develop an aggression reduction program targeted at elementary school students (in 4th, 5th and 6th grade) of low-wage class, positioned in high environmental danger group, and test the effectiveness of the program. Based on Meichen...
This study aims to develop an aggression reduction program targeted at elementary school students (in 4th, 5th and 6th grade) of low-wage class, positioned in high environmental danger group, and test the effectiveness of the program. Based on MeichenBaum's principle of cognitive behaviorism (1975), this study also refers to Kim Hyun Joung(2001)'s 'Group treatment program for improving problematic behavior of children from poor families,' Kim Young Thae, Back Han Sam & Kang Sin Duck(1995)'s 'Anger management for teenagers,' and Hughes(1992)' 'STAR (Students Taking Assertive and Responsible Action) Program.'Also, from my past research in group programs effective for aggression reduction, I excerpted only the contents corresponding to the target age in this study. With help of one development psychologist, one clinical psychologist and one play therapist, I developed a program that fits the circumstances in Korea. This program, aimed at changing cognitive schema managing anger, improving self-esteem and improving social skills, is composed of 8 sessions in total. This program not only manages anger but also helps the children to learn how to express anger in proper way. The program also tries to correct the cognitive schema that makes the children to interpret ambiguous situation as hostile and justify their aggressive behavior. Moreover, the program attaches great significance to the intimate relationship between children and the therapist, to maximize the improvement in self-esteem and efficiency in problem-solving skill training.
The research sample was comprised of children of 4th, 5th and 6th grade, attending After School Child care Center(provided for free for the low-wage families) N and After School Child care Center(provided for free for the low-wage families) S located in Seoul. Except for one child for whom it was impossible to participate in the study due to mental retardation, I randomly assigned the children into the treatment group (N=18) and the control group (N=20).
Among these children, two children who were absent in the treatment program more than twice and 5 children from the control group who did not answer the post-experiment survey were excluded. Other children in the treatment group (N=16) and the control group (N=15) were analyzed. In the treatment program, one main researcher and two assistant researchers participated. The sessions were provided twice a week for four weeks, each session lasting 1 hour and a half. In order to test the effectiveness of the program, I compared the treatment group that participated in the treatment program for 4 weeks and the control group, using ex-experiment survey and post-experiment survey.
The result showed that, compared to the control group, the treatment group children who participated in the aggression reduction program experienced a significant decrease in negative cognitive schema, aggression, frequency of aggressive behavior and problematic behavior, and a significant increase in self-esteem and social skills ability in the area of self-control. In case of the composure of the teachers, the problematic behavior of the treatment group also significantly decreased after the program and social skills ability increased.
The research result was as follows.
First, after attending the aggression reduction program, negative automatic thinking of low-wage class children significantly decreased. This result shows that children understood the diversity of point of views and distorted cognitive schema, and learned to manage the anger by using positive cognitive schema in ambiguous situations.
Second, the self-esteem of children significantly increased after participating in the program. By confirming that they are being valued by important others like friends and teachers, the self-esteem of children improved, and they began to evaluate themselves positively.
Third, the social skills ability of children showed significant increase in both self-report of the children and the report from teachers. I believe that the activities aimed at expressing anger in appropriate ways and finding ways to solve problems helped children to reduce aggression.
Fourth, the aggression, the frequency of aggressive behavior and problematic behavior all showed significant decrease after participating in this program. I think that the decrease in negative automatic thinking improved anger management ability, and developing social skills in problem behavior and self-esteem that provides support for internal emotion led to decrease in aggression.
This study, by developing and executing an aggression reduction program targeted at low-wage class children that considered all the variables affecting aggression, confirmed the effectiveness the program has on aggression reduction. This aggression reduction program is different from other programs in that the program is not targeted at juvenile delinquents. This is a prevention program targeted at the general children in low-wage class who face many causes of danger. This program has significant meaning in that it focuses on the ex-ante prevention of anger being expressed by aggressive behavior. The prevention was done by intervening into the negative cognitive schema in not only negative situations but also in ambiguous situations, cutting off the automatic negative thinking. Together with the anger management, the program provided appropriate alternatives other than suppressing anger or expressing it in violent ways. In addition, this study considered the environmental context in forming the groups and also confirmed the effectiveness of the program in three dimensions -aggression, frequency of aggressive behaviors, and problematic behavior.