SAN FRANCISCO – An anger management intervention that was designed specifically for boys significantly improved their emotional vocabulary, according to preliminary results reported by Aimee Coonerty-Femiano at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
Fourteen eighth-grade boys in a rural school district who were referred by a psychologist or guidance counselor met weekly for 44-minute group sessions with an anger management counselor for 8 weeks. One group of seven boys pursued the anger management program, and the other seven waited 8 weeks before starting the program, serving as a control group.
The intervention teaches that anger is secondary to other emotions, and uses concepts from cognitive-behavioral therapy to teach about connections between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. The program also raises awareness about differences between boys and girls related to emotions, said Ms. Coonerty-Femiano, a doctoral student at Boston College, and her associates.
The first treatment group significantly improved its emotional vocabulary score from four to eight emotions at the end of 8 weeks, she said. When the delayed-treatment (control) group went through the program, its emotional vocabulary score increased significantly from five to eight emotions.
One of the most successful strategies employed by the intervention was a questionnaire at the start that asked what media the boys consumed, and those media were incorporated into the intervention, she said.
Topics and exercises were introduced using examples of emotional experiences and reactions from the “South Park” television cartoon show and movies starring Adam Sandler. These references to the popular culture engaged the boys' attention and participation.
In one exercise, boys in the intervention group sorted “feeling cards” representing different emotions by categorizing them as emotions experienced by boys or girls or “not sure.”
In another exercise, cards representing events that triggered anger generated discussion of the boys' thoughts and feelings at the time of the event, how they reacted, and how they felt about their reaction.
Participants in the program had a variety of diagnoses, including depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, and oppositional-defiant disorder. Half the boys already were in individual therapy, and half were taking medications for a disorder.
Anecdotally, after the study, the names of boys in the intervention group came up less often in weekly meetings of school guidance counselors, where the boys initially had been flagged for intervention. “I'm not sure if that's due to the group, but we would like to think so,” she said.
Besides increasing emotional vocabulary, the intervention changed awareness of other feelings that accompany anger, and awareness of obstacles faced specifically by boys when expressing emotions. Themes that emerged from participants' comments were that boys don't like being vulnerable, and that strategies are needed to make a safe environment for them to express feelings, she said.
The program raises awareness about differences between boys and girls related to emotions. MS. COONERTY-FEMIANO