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Effects of stress inoculation on the anger and aggression management skills of institutionalized juvenile delinquents

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Abstract

Thirty-eight institutionalized male delinquents evidencing verbal and physical aggression in response to anger provocations were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: stress inoculation training, a treatment elements condition (which left out certain ingredients of stress inoculation), or a no-treatment control condition. Both active treatments reduced anger and aggression on three self-report scales. Only stress inoculation lowered verbal aggression in laboratory role-played provocations. Two demand analyses suggest that the latter difference is not artifactual. The social psychology of the institution may have been at least partly responsible for null effects on institutional behavior ratings.

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Appreciation is extended to Rus Bauer and Jim Raczynski for their help in the conduct of this research. An earlier circulated draft of this manuscript erroneously reported a null effect on the first dependent variable.

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Schlichter, K.J., Horan, J.J. Effects of stress inoculation on the anger and aggression management skills of institutionalized juvenile delinquents. Cogn Ther Res 5, 359–365 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173687

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