Self-distancing to reduce anger in high school students

ABSTRACT

The present pilot study employed an experimental design to examine the efficacy of a self-distancing intervention for promoting adolescent’s reflective adaptation to anger inducing events. Recent experimental studies on college students, elementary school students, and couples have found that self-distancing interventions, as compared to self-immersion/reflection interventions or a no-treatment control, lead to adaptive responses to anger and reductions in future aggression. As adolescents are particularly prone to intense experiences of anger and are at high-risk of being perpetrators and victims of aggression, examining the potential of self-distancing to reduce anger has important implications for adults serving this population. However, contrary to the results of the literature examining self-distancing in adult and child populations, self-distancing was not found to reduce, and may have increased, implicit aggressive cognition, anger, and negative affect in the adolescent sample.

KEYWORDS:

• Anger
• high school
• self-distancing
• academic
• treatment outcomes
• self-regulation

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Koichi Yoshikawa

Dr. Koichi Yoshikawa is Nationally Certified School Psychologist with the Baltimore City Public Schools.

Thomas J. Kehle

Professor Thomas J. Kehle was Dr. Koichi Yoshikawa’s major advisor at the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.

Melissa Anne Bray

Professor Melissa Bray is the director of the school psychology program in the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.

Marisa del Campo

Marisa del Campo, PhD is a certified school psychologist in Florida. Research interests include health and wellness in school children.

Johanna deLeyer-Tiarks

Johanna deLeyer-Tiarks is a Ph.D candidate in the School Psychology Program at the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.

Emily Louise Winter

Emily Winter is a Ph.D. student in the School Psychology Program at the Neag School of Education, University of Connecticut.

Natalie R. Starling

Dr. Natalie R. Starling is an Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of School Psychology at Southern Connecticut State University.