Do anger management treatments help angry adults? A meta-analytic answer
Item
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Title
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Do anger management treatments help angry adults? A meta-analytic answer
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Identifier
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d_2009_2013:3448ce0a72a7:10904
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identifier
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11118
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Creator
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Kusmierska, Grazyna,
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Contributor
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William H. Gottdiener
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Date
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2011
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Clinical psychology | anger | management | meta-analysis | outcome | treatment
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Abstract
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Poorly managed anger could be a serious social and psychological problem. Despite the need for effective anger treatment models, little is known about what works and what does not work for various categories of angry people, and what could be done to better help them. This study was conducted to assess the efficacy of anger treatments with adults and to test four participant characteristics and three study characteristics presumed to moderate treatment effects. To that end, 74 anger treatment outcome studies were meta-analytically synthesized. The individual reports were included if they tested anger treatment with adults, used measures of anger, and provided data in a format for which an effect size was calculable. There was no limit as to the treatment model or modality, or the study's publication status. Randomized controlled trials, nonequivalent control group studies and single group pretest-posttest studies were included, but single-case studies were not included. A post-hoc decision was also made to include only studies reporting treatments that consisted of 1-18 sessions.;The overall mean effect size was g = 0.584. The results were heterogeneous indicating the existence of moderator variables. One of the moderator variables was the population from which the participants were recruited. The treatment effect sizes ranged from large in people with intellectual disabilities and psychiatric outpatients, to small in medical patients, drivers, and veterans. Another moderator variable was the participants' gender. The effect sizes were larger in women than in men participating in anger treatment. The participants' cognitive and anger severity levels did not moderate treatment effects. There were no moderating effects of study design and treatment modality either. There was an association between the publication status of the individual reports and treatment effect sizes, with published studies reporting larger effect sizes than the unpublished studies.;This meta-analysis confirmed that the majority of people who participate in anger treatment benefit from it. The current study also uncovered two participant characteristics that moderate treatment effects, identified areas that require more research, and indicated what participants' data should be included in individual reports to advance prospective meta-analyses of anger treatment outcomes.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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2009_2013.csv
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
