An evaluation of anger control training with male adolescents in a day treatment program

This study evaluated the effects of Anger Control Training (ACT) with explosive and conduct disordered male adolescents (ages 14.9 to 17.7 years) attending a public school system day treatment program. Sixteen paired subjects were randomly assigned to either ACT or control status (n = 8 each group). They were evaluated with a multiassessment battery (self-report, global behavioral rating scales, and direct behavioral indices) and were observed from various proximal and distal points and with a repeated measures format. This research effort provided evidence that ACT was effective in reducing the experimental subjects acting out behavior and improving their general self-control compared to the control subjects. These treatment gains generalized to the regular classroom for some of the ACT students and were maintained at the six month follow-up assessment. The ACT subjects also returned to more normative levels of functioning on several measures as compared to the control subjects. The students' academic performance was not positively affected by participation in ACT and generally the ACT students' improvements at the day treatment program did not generalize to the home, although measurement problems were encountered with the parental evaluations. A combination of single-subject and group comparison methodologies provided a means to study both within and between subject variation and gain insights into the growth patterns of these students relative to anger control and dysfunction that would not have been possible with a single methodological approach. Hierarchical linear modeling proved to be an efficacious analytic strategy.