The effect of the anger management program on the anger levels of the secondary school students

One of the feelings that harm people the most is anger. When expressed in an uncontrolled way, anger may damage both the individual and his/her environment. That?s why it is essential to learn to control/manage anger. To manage anger or to express it in an appropriate way can be seen as a skill that needs to be acquired in early ages. Based on this perspective, this study aims to determine levels of the anger of the primary school second graders and help them to acquire anger management skills. This is an experimental study that intends to increase/enhance anger management skills of primary school second grade students selected from a primary school in Lefkosa, TRNC. In this study, an experimental model with pre-test and post-test control group is used. 24 students with high anger score and poor anger management skills took part in the research group. 13 of these students took part in control group and 11 of them took part in test group. For gathering data, personal information form and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 Child and Adolescent (STAXI-2 C/A) and Anger Management Skills Program are used. Adaptation of the inventory developed by Brunner and Spielberger (2009) into Turkish and its reliability and validity has been carried out by the researcher. Independent variable of the study is anger management skills program that aims reduce anger level of children, while dependent variable is the anger scores that subjects of the experiment get. To achieve the main objective, an ?Anger Management Skills Training Program,? informed by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Emotional Therapy, has been developed and applied. This program consists of 10 psycho-educational based sessions, and includes topics such as anger, ability to recognize anger, strategies to cope with anger, types of anger, ABC model, communication, assertiveness, conflict resolution, and problem solving. This program has been applied to the test group once a week for 90 minutes for 10 weeks. During this period, nothing has been done with the control group. STAXI-2 C/A has been applied to control group and experimental group as pre-test and post test. Before and after the experiment, average of the scores that students in test and control groups got from STAXI-2 C/A has been identified. In order to decide whether differences are significant or not, variance analysis (ANOVA) is used for repeated measurements. At the end of the training program, statistically significant decrease has been observed in trait anger, state anger and anger expression levels, while statistically significant increase has been observed in anger management skill. In the light of the data obtained, it is possible to conclude that Anger Management Skills Training has produced positive results in managing anger. İngilizce anahtar kelimeler 1-Anger 2-Trait anger 3-State anger 4- Anger management 5-Anger expression