Date of Award

1990

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The effectiveness of prosocial skills training groups, which focused on helping aggressive, male, adult inmates manage anger, was investigated. Forty-eight inmates, defined as aggressive, participated in treatment. A random sample, pretest-posttest-follow-up, treatment control group design was utilized. The eight-week treatment focused on variables of social skill development, anger perceptions, and anger behaviors. Participants' responses to the Social Skills Inventory (Riggio, 1989) and the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory (Spielberger, 1988) were analyzed, along with case counselor responses to the Correctional Adjustment Checklist (Quay, 1984). Results indicated that prosocial skills training had no significant differential effect upon participants when compared to a similar group of aggressive, male, adult inmates who received an alternative treatment. It was concluded that prosocial skills training with a focus on anger modification is not effective in helping aggressive, male, adult inmates to develop more effective social skills, to modify anger perceptions, or to reduce anger behaviors. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

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