A Study of Adolescent Anger

According to Different Socio-

economic Status, Age, and Sex.

Presented By:

Shamima Sultana

Trainee Counselling Psychologist(Batch II),

Dept. of Psychology, University of Dhaka.

Mahjabeen Haque

Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology,

University of Dhaka.

Introduction

Anger is a human emotion that

frequently results in aggression and

violence (Burney, 2001). McKellar (1949)

defined anger as a negative reaction to a

stimulus event and described three

forms of anger: overt, non-overt, and

delayed.

Introduction (Cont…)

Different styles and patterns of anger:

1. Instrumental anger,

2. Reactive anger and

3. Anger control.

(Burney,2000)

Introduction (Cont…)

Instrumental anger (IA) is defined as a

negative emotion that triggers a delayed

response resulting in a desired and

planned goal of revenge and retaliation.

Adolescents who exhibit elevated

instrumental-type anger style tend to

have histories of delinquencies and

antisocial behaviors.

Introduction (Cont…)

Reactive anger (RA) is defined as an

immediate angry response to a

perceived negative, threatening, or

fearful event. Adolescents with

excessive reactive type anger display

negative attributions. Such adolescents

often resemble those with a DSM-IV

diagnosis of ADHD.

Introduction (Cont…)

Anger control (AC) is a proactive

cognitive-behavioral method used to

resolved instrumental and reactive

responses to anger.

Difference between anger and

aggression

The difference between a healthy

declaration of anger and an act of

aggression is the action that is harmful to

another person, animal or thing. In other

words you can express anger in words,

but when you harm others, anything at

all then it becomes aggression.

Rationale Daily newspapers report high rate of violence,

terrorism and rape committed by the adolescents.

Adolescent’s anger is one of the main factors

behind these events.

Students with high level of anger need special

support in management of their anger.

To develop specific treatment plans to decrease

the frequency of violence caused by expressed

anger in adolescents.

Objectives

To identify and measure the total anger

expression in school going adolescents

To investigate the total anger of

adolescents in different socio-economic

classes.

To investigate whether adolescent

anger varies with their age groups.

To investigate whether there is a

difference between male and female

adolescents in expression of anger.

Method

Sample:

Sex Number Percentage

Male 66 50.40%

Female 65 49.62%

Table 1: Sample size

11 to 13.5

Years36%13.6 to

17 Years64%

Low SES

Middle SES

High SES

Method (Cont…) Sampling technique: Convenience sampling

technique

Measuring instruments:

Adolescents Anger Rating Scale:

(Burney, 2000)

Personal information recording sheet

Design: Cross-sectional survey design

Procedure: Questionnaires administered in

direct interaction

Result

SES SEX Age group Mean anger SD

Low Female 11to13.5 99.29 12.09

Male 13.6to17 105.29 17.07

Middle Female 13.6to17 76.00 11.07

Male 13.6to17 72.88 15.21

High Female 11to13.5 80.00 1.41

Male 11to13.5 97.50 17.68

Table 2: Mean scores of anger regarding SES

Table shows that, the highest mean score of anger (105.29) is

found in boys of 13.6 to 17 years age group of low socio-

economic status.

Results (Cont…)

Table 3: Interpretation of anger scores of older male adolescents

of low SES:

Scale Raw score T-score Percentile Interpretation.

Total anger 105.29 62 89 Moderately high

IA 47.00 65 91 Moderately high

RA 23.64 65 90 Moderately high

AC 30.36 49 48 Average

Table shows that older (13.6 to 17 yrs) male adolescents of low

socio-economic status have moderately high total anger. Their

instrumental anger and reactive anger are also moderately high

while their anger control is average.

Result (Cont…)

Table 4: Mean Differences in Anger according to Sex (N=131):

No significant difference was found in anger of adolescents regarding sex.

Further analysis was done to find out whether there is any difference in anger regarding sex of different age groups.

Measures Groups Mean SD t-value

Anger

Male 82.58 20.79

-1.55Female 77.80 13.63

Result (Cont…)

Table5: Mean differences in anger according to sex of different

age group (N=131):

Significant difference was found in anger of male adolescents of

different age groups. Older male adolescents (13.6 to 17 yrs)

showed more anger than the young group (11 to 13.5 yrs).

SEX Age group Mean SD t-value

Male 11to13.5 74.74 14.85 -1.99

13.6to17 85.21 22.27

Female 11to13.5 78.14 16.66 0.18

13.6to17 77.47 11.19

o 05

Result (Cont…)

Table 6: Mean Differences in Anger according to Different

Age group (N=131):

Table shows significant difference in anger of adolescents

regarding different age groups.

Further analysis was done to find out whether there is any

difference in anger regarding age groups of male and female

adolescents.

Measures Age groups Mean SD t-value

Anger 11to13.5 76.77 15.88

-1.6813.6to17 82.13 18.48

o 05

Result (Cont…)

Table7: Mean differences in anger according to different

age group of male and female adolescents (N=131):

Table shows that significant difference in anger exists between male

and female adolescents of older age group (13.6 to 17 yrs). Older

male adolescents have more anger (83.21) than the older female

adolescents.

Age group SEX Mean SD t-value

11to13.5 Male 74.74 14.85

0.72Female 78.14 16.66

13.6to17 Male 85.21 22.27

-1.91Female 77.47 11.19

o 05

Result (Cont…)

Table8: Interpretation of anger scores of older male

adolescents:

Table shows that older male adolescents have moderately

high instrumental anger (IA) while their total anger, reactive

anger (RA), and anger control (AC) are average.

Scale Raw score T-score Percentile Interpretation

Total anger 85.21 58 87 Average

IA 35.31 64 92 Moderately high

RA 18.35 49 72 Average

AC 33.44 51 62 Average

Result (Cont…)

40

50

60

70

Total anger IA RA AC

Oldermale Olderfemale

Youngmale Youngfemale

Fig: Different types of anger scores (T-scores) of older and

younger male female adolescents.

Findings

Therefore it can be concluded that the study found:

Moderately high rate of total anger among older

(13.6to17 yrs) adolescents of low socioeconomic

status.

They also showed moderately high level of anger

regarding IA and RA.

Older male adolescents expressed more anger than

older female adolescents.

They displayed average level of total anger but have

moderately high level of IA.

Discussion

Moderately high IA →have a planned

goal of revenge and/or retaliation.

Example: murder of NDC college

student.

Moderately high RA →more impulsive,

hyperactive and aggressive.

Lack of proper

education

Poor learning

environment

lack of opportunity to learn

moral values

At Low SES

DeprivationCrime

Unhealthy

parenting

Expression of

moderately high

anger

All these factors might have contributed in expression of

high level of anger in the adolescents of low SES.

Recommendations

Each school need to appoint educational or school

counselor

Need to develop a norm of our own country

Develop specific treatment plans and proactive

training programs: such as-

Anger management

Social skills training

Training on Assertiveness

Friendly school environment

Educational psychologist are able to help the

adolescents, teachers and school authorities as well

as parents in this issues

Limitations

Instrument used has no norm for

Bangladeshi context.