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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 159 (2014) 686 – 690

WCPCG 2014

Anger Management of Students for a Peaceful School Environment:

The Group Studies
Ulku Tosuna*
a
Fatih University, Faculty of Education, Istanbul,Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide guidance to students in gaining skills to control their aggressive behaviours through an anger
management group study. In this study, a pretest- posttest control group design has been used. Data gathered from 288 students
have been analysed through SPSS-20 statistical program. The Empathic Tendency scale, Aggressiveness scale, and Anger Rating
scale with three subscales as overt-anger, covert-anger, and anger control have been applied to both control and experimental
group members as pretests and posttests. The experimental group members have learned to control their anger
feelings/behaviours at the end of the group activities. When students learn to display their anger feelings appropriately probably
school settings will be more peaceful places than that present.
© 2014
© 2014 Published
The Authors. Published
by Elsevier byThis
Ltd. Elsevier
is an Ltd.
open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Organizing Committee of the ERPA Congress 2014.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Academic World Education and Research Center.
Keywords: Anger ; Anger Management ; Agressiveness

1. Introduction

One of the most important causes of conflicts among the interpersonal relationships is that people are not aware
how to manage their own anger feelings. Some people get angry & reflect aggressive behaviors while others direct
their anger feelings into their insides by thinking anger is a negative emotion. It is believed that when people
manage their anger appropriately they can cope with conflicts in a positive way. To be able to control anger before it
results in aggressive behaviors is a vital issue in interpersonal relationships. Anger becomes negative when people
deny it, suppress it, or express it inappropriately (Bhave & Saini, 2013; Jain, Mehta & Saxena, 2008). Anger is a
feeling whereas aggression is a behavior and anger leads to aggressive behaviors. On the other hand, anger is

* Ulku Tosun. Tel.: +90-212-866-33-00/ext.2850.

E-mail address: ulku.tosun@fatih.edu.tr.

1877-0428 © 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the Academic World Education and Research Center.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.469
 Ulku Tosun / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 159 (2014) 686 – 690 687

generally not the starting point of aggressive behaviors. In other words, anger feelings do not prompt the
aggressiveness (Walkera & Bright, 2009). All people always have the options to choice their responses (Tosun,
2002). When anger emerges some people reflect aggressive behaviors physically or psychologically or they
withdraw it. If a person can control his/her own anger then s/he can response with assertive behaviors .It means that
s/he can manage his/her own anger feelings constructively (Ramesh, 2009). When individuals are aware of their
anger feelings then they can learn how to manage these feelings and they can cope with the conflicts in their
interpersonal relationships. Anger management style deals with how an individual expresses or suppresses his/her
anger. A distinction between two ways of managing anger reactions: either expressing anger outward or suppressing
anger (Aslan, 2010; Serin & Genc, 2011). Kagıtcıbası (1999 in Şevkin, 2008) states that if a child observes some
aggressive behaviors of his/her family members during the problem solving processes s/he learns that it is right to
solve the conflicts by responding aggressive behaviors. Consequently, the children imitiate and reflect aggressive
behaviors in their daily lives spontaneously when they feel angry themselves. If an individual understands the
management of anger and different approaches to it then negative consequences of anger do not occur (Jain, Mehta
& Saxena,2008). Anger management includes being aware of one’s own feelings instead of suppresing or hiding
them. It means that to know the biological & physical constructions of anger, the person’s rational & irrational
believes, the person’s family, social & cultural environments affect his/her anger feelings and anger expression
People can leave harmful effects of anger & additionally comprise their anger feelings constructively through group
studies about anger management (Bhave & Saini,2013). According to Hankins & Hankings (1988 in Sevkin, 2008)
anger has some characteristics:
(1) It is not a planned but a spontaneous feeling
(2) It is a universal feeling. Under certain circumstances everyone can feel anger himself/herself.
(3) Anger feelings occur against to criticizing, aggressive & obstructive behaviors. Increasing of the amount of
these behaviors induce to increase of the person’s anger feelings. As if it is stimulus response effect.
Anger appears in everyday life as an emotion, e.g., at home, school, in interpersonal relationships, etc. Anger can
be negative if a person deny it, repress or explain it inappropriately. Spielberg (1999) points out three ways of
expressing anger ; overt-anger, covert-anger and anger control (Bhave & Saini, 2013). Expressed anger is more
constuctive than unexpressed anger. Anger management is accepted as positive and socially desirable. To create &
live in a peaceful environment at schools is possible for the students when they learn to control their anger feelings
appropriately. When students learn to display their anger feelings appropriately probably school settings will be
more peaceful places than that present. The aim of this study is to suggest some guidance for students to gain some
anger management skills so that they can control their aggressive behaviors and to establish a peaceful setting in
schools (Sakiroglu,2012).

The research aims particularly to find out if:

- the aggressive behaviors of students in experimental group members will decrease significantly.
- the emphatic tendency of students in experimental group members will increase significantly.
- the overt-anger, anger-in feelings of students in experimental group will decrease significantly whereas
their anger control feelings will increase.

2. Method

2.1. Participants

There are 288 students in the sample group from nine different schools which % 24 of them are elementary
school students, % 47 of them are secondary school students, % 29 of them are high school students. 27.77 % of the
participants are male and the rest (72,23 %) is females. There are 9 different experimental groups with 49 students, 2
groups from elementary schools, 5 groups from secondary schools, & 2 groups from high schools.

2.2. Instruments

An Empatic Tendency Scale, Aggressiveness Scale, and Anger Rating Scale with three subscales such as overt-
anger, anger-in, & anger control, were used for both control & experimental groups as pretests & posttests. Empathy
tendency scale developed by Dökmen (1988) was used in the research. Its Cronbach Alpha coefficient value was
688 Ulku Tosun / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 159 (2014) 686 – 690

.68 (Tuncay, 2008). Anger Rating Scale developed by Spielberger (1983) and adapted to Turkish language by Ozer
(1994) was used. Cronbach Alpha coefficient values are .78 for overt-anger, .62 for anger-in & .84 for anger control
(Ulu, 2011). Finally, Aggressiveness Scale developed by Sahin (2004) was applied in the study. It has consisted of
18 items & its Cronbach Alpha coefficient value was as .77 (Sevkin, 2008).

2.3. Procedure

In this study pretest-posttest control group design was used. During the 2011-2012 academic year fall semester,
elementary (4th grade), secondary (7th & 8th grades), and high school (9th grade) students who are in different state
schools in Istanbul were assigned as population. Experimental group members were determined by using
convenience sampling method.
Firstly, nine different group leaders in Guidance & Counseling department of a Private University, explained the
details of the anger management group studies to the teachers & school counselors of 3 elementary, 4 secondary & 2
high schools separately. Then both the teachers & school counselors suggested some students as participants who
could reflect some aggressive behaviors at schools. University students as group leaders met with these students,
gave the information them about anger management group studies, and offered them to join, some students accepted
voluntarily to join to the group studies and then the experimental groups are formed.
Data were analysed through SPSS-20 statistical program. Both the control & experimental groups’ mean values,
& pretest & posttest results compared to each other by inferential using inferential statistics.

3. Results

The percentages of female participants are more than male participants in both control groups (74.1 %) &
experimental groups (63,3%). It can be explained that the females are more flexible to replace their anger behaviors
with acceptable ones than the males. Besides, the participants can have been affected by the group leaders who are
females. The members of control groups were the classmates of the members of experimental groups. Maybe, It
can be simply stated that female population is bigger than male population at these schools. The Empathy Tendency
scale, Aggressiveness scale, and Anger Rating scale with three subscales as overt-anger, anger-in, & anger control
were administered to both control & experimental group members as pretests & posttests.

Table 1: t-test for Equality of Means For Control & Experimental Groups
Tests t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Aggressiveness_Pretest -3.824 116 .000
Aggressiveness_Posttest -2.502 116 .014

The results indicated that there were not statistically significant differences between mean values of control &
experimental groups. There were significant differences between the groups in aggressiveness scale both in pretest
(.000) & posttest (.014). The difference was favor of experimental groups.

Table 2: Paired Samples Test For Experimental Groups Pre-Post Tests

t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Anger –in_ Pretest
Pair 1 2.812 41 .008
Anger- in_ Posttest
Overt – Anger_Pretest
Pair 2 3.961 41 .000
Overt – Anger Posttest
Anger Control_Pretest
Pair 3 -3.231 41 .002
Anger Control_Posttest

According to the test results of experimental groups, significant differences in all subscales of anger rating
scale were indicated in a positive way. While anger-in (.008) & overt-anger (.000) mean values decreased anger
 Ulku Tosun / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 159 (2014) 686 – 690 689

control (.002) mean values increased. According to t-test results all these changes were at significant levels.

Table 3: Paired Samples Test For Control Groups Pre-Post Tests

t df Sig. (2-tailed)
Anger Control _Pretest
Pair 3 -2.435 66 .018
Anger Control_Posttest
Aggressiveness_Pretest
Pair 4 -2.164 68 .034
Aggressiveness_Posttest

In control groups, there were no significant differences among the mean values of the pretest & posttest scales.
On the other hand, the mean values of anger control subscale & aggressiveness scale increased significantly (.034)
in a negative way. This is good for anger control but not aggressive behaviors.

4. Discussion & Conclusion

The mean values of control groups in pre- and post-tests were very similar. On the other hand, there were some
differences between pretest & posttest mean values of experimental groups in a positive/expected way,unfortunately
they were mostly statistically insignificant. For example, aggressiveness test scores decreased & empathy tendency
test scores increased but as statistically insignificant. Thus it can be interpreted that the group studies have emerged
the expected progress for experimental group members. In aggressiveness scale, as aggressive scores of control
group members increased, as the experimental group members’ scores decreased. It means experimental group
members have started to manage their aggressive behaviors in their daily lives. In experimental groups, all subscales
of Anger Rating scale were changed in positively / expected way. While anger-in (.008) and overt-anger (.000)
mean values decreased, anger control (.002) mean value increased at the significant levels according to pre-posttest
results. It can be interpreted that the experimental group members learned to control their anger feelings/behaviors at
the end of the group studies. Also they became aware of the connection between anger feelings and aggressive
behaviors. Thus they learned to manage their aggressive behaviors which are visible. Anger control is generally
regarded as positive and socially desirable, but high levels of anger control or failure to express anger can threaten
the well-being and contribute to pain severity and other pain-related problem (Estlander , Knaster, Karlsson, Kaprio
& Kalso, 2008). In control groups, probably the increasing of anger control & aggressive responses of group
members dealt with the school conditions. Because the posttests were administered to students almost at the end of
the fall semester. It can be predicted that students realized how unsuccessful they were academically and
spontaneously their behaviors / responses changed negatively. Consequently, the experimental group members
learned to control their anger feelings/behaviors at the end of the group activities. It can be predicted that students
can learn to manage their anger in a positive way, relatively in a short time through well-structured group activities.
When students learn to display their anger feelings appropriately probably school settings will be more peaceful
places than that present.

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