Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of assertive training on the reduction of aggression and anxiety in juvenile delinquents. Subjects were 45 male juvenile delinquents, with an age range from 16 to 19 years. They were randomly assigned to the experimental(n=15), discussion(n=15), and control(n=15) groups, and assessed before and after treatment on self reported aggression and anxiety scales. The Spielberger' (1970) State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was used to measure anxiety, and the Buss-Durkee' (1957) Aggression and Hostility Inventory was used to measure aggression of the subjects. The experimental group was given an assertive training program which consisted of instruction, role playing or behavior rehearsal, feedback, modeling, and homework assignments. The group was trained by two leaders for 6 weeks. The discussion group had spent 6 weeks dealing with 6 different topics led by the leaders. The control group had no treatment during the period. The three groups were compared using the pretest scores as the covariate. The results of analyses of covariance for different scores and t tests for adjusted means indicated that experimental group was more effective on the reduction of aggression and hostility than the discussion and control groups. The discussion group seemed, although statistically nonsignificant, to have somewhat significant effect on the reduction of state anxiety and trait anxiety, but no significant effect on the reduction of aggression and hostility. It was found in the further analysis that assault, indirect aggression among the subscales of aggression and suspicion among the subscales of hostility were reduced significantly, but negativism, irritability, verbal aggression and resentment were not reduced significantly. In discussion it was indicated that behavioral measure is needed, in addition to those used in the present study, and a study on the relative effectiveness of program components is recommended in future researches.