Journal of Depression and Anxiety
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-1044
ISSN: 2167-1044
Mika Sakurai
Kokushikan University, Japan
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Depress Anxiety
Statement of the Problem: Adolescents who have experienced physical violence as well as bullying at schools are at greater risk for physical and mental health problems. National Japanese Government researchers have found in a study that 45.1% public junior high school students are exposed to violence and 68,291 are reported cases of bullying. Thus, it is urgent for Japanese to find better and proper ways to response anger. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a new program in response to anger in smart and positive way and to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: To examine these issues, we asked 133 Japanese eighth graders to complete the Japanese version of the Anger Response, Acknowledgement of anger management, Japanese version of Relational Health Indices-youth and Japanese version of Psychological Well-being-youth. The Relational Health is based on characteristics of relationships: mutual engagement, authenticity, empowerment to deal with differences and conflict. An important goal of anger management programs is to foster skills that enable students to respond to conflict and stressful situations in prosocial and nonaggressive ways. The program provided opportunities for students to practice these skills while enhancing the school environment to reward such behaviors. The program was conducted three times at the junior high school within a few months. Findings: Multiple regression analysis revealed those students� connectedness to closely relate to friends, as well as connectedness to peer groups. However, no significant difference in anger response in constructive ways was shown at posttest. Conclusion & Significance: Anger management programs may be effective for Japanese youth to promote relationships with close friends and peer groups, yet anger management skills were not adopted significantly. It is recommended that Japanese youth be encouraged to develop proper anger management strategies to address anger issues. Recent Publications 1. Belle Liang, Allison, Tracy, Maureen E Kenny, Deirdre Brogan and Ravi Gatha (2002) The Relational Health Indices for Youth: an examination of reliability and validity aspects. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development. 42(4):255-274. 2. Albert D Farrell, Aleta L, Meyer, Eva M Kung and Terri N Sullivan (2001) Development and evaluation of schoolbased violence prevention programs. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology. 30(2):207-220. 3. Jennifer D Foster, Gabriel P Kupermine, and Ann W Price (2004) Gender differences in posttraumatic stress and related symptoms among inner-city minority youth exposed to community violence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 33(1):59-69. 4. Mika Sakurai (2014) Development the program of anger response in smart and positive ways-youth in school settings. Kokushikan University Education Department. (31):51-70.
Mika Sakurai has her expertise in passion in improving anger management and well-being for youth. Her anger management model based on response in smart and positive ways for improving mental health as well as relationships with friends, groups and members. She has built these models after years of experience in research, evaluation, teaching and administration in education institute.
Email:sakuraim@kokushikan.ac.jp