The effects of anger management on children's social and emotional outcomes: A meta-analysis

The occurrence of violent behaviors and bullying in schools continues to be a recognized problem among students and school personnel. The concern caused by these behaviors have led many schools to implement anger management and other impulse control based programs for at-risk students in an effort to prevent many of these incidences. This study was a comprehensive, meta-analytic synthesis of the literature to assess the effectiveness of these interventions, using a total of 60 studies from 1979-2010 for analysis. Results indicated an overall effect size (ES) of -0.27, showing a small to moderate intervention effect in reducing children's negative emotional and behavioral outcomes including anger, aggression, and loss of self control. Many different types of anger management components were found to be effective in promoting positive outcomes. Implications for school psychologists are discussed.