Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1977

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Educational Psychology and Guidance

Major Professor

Donald J. Dickinson

Abstract

The literature suggests that aggressive behavior can be reduced in a variety of ways. Many of the programs used contain components of assertiveness training. In addition, it has been suggested that assertiveness training seems like a viable methodology for reducing children's aggressive behavior. However, substantial research is lacking in the area. Similarly, it has been suggested that assertive- ness training should improve the self-concept. The studies done to date are equivocal in their results.

The literature suggests that direct behavior observation is the preferred methodology for assessing changes in the aggressive behaviors of children. Furthermore, it has been suggested that teachers can be reliable observers of aggressive behavior. However, many questions remain to be answered. The present study presented an opportunity to explore the question of whether a teacher checklist can be used as a reliability check on more precise observations.

Subjects for the study were twelve fourth grade boys. The subjects were divided into two groups of six boys each. The study followed a multiple baseline design with staggered and continuous treatment.

It was hypothesized that: (1) The frequency of aggressive behaviors would decrease as a result of assertiveness training. (2) The self-concepts of the boys in the program would increase. An alpha level of 0.05 was selected as the level of statistical significance.

Hypothesis I was tested by subjecting the group data to correlated sample t-tests. Data for the individual subjects was analyzed descriptively. The group data did not support Hypothesis I. However, nine of the twelve subjects showed a decrease in aggressive behavior across the various conditions of the study. Overall, the data suggest that group assertiveness training cannot be ruled out as a procedure for changing aggressive behavior in children.

Hypothesis II was tested using a pre and post test administration of The Piers-Harris Children's Self Concept Scale. Changes in self- concept were evaluated using the criterion in the test manual of a ten point change indicating significance at the 0.05 level. One boy in each group showed a significant positive change in self-concept and one boy in each group showed a significant negative change in self-concept. Overall, Hypothesis II was not supported.

The data for the teacher checklist and the behavioral observations was analyzed using the Pearson product-moment coefficient of correlation. The correlations were significant for only two of the subjects. Therefore, it was concluded that the data does not support the viability of using a teacher checklist as a reliability check rather than a second observer.

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