Comparison of the effect of a mother self-help group and a psycho-education for children group on coping with aggression in primary school children

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of a self-help group consisting of mothers with children exhibiting aggressive behaviors and a psycho-education group involving children displaying aggressive behaviors on children’s aggression behaviors. Three groups were included in the study. The groups are consisted of child psycho- education group (experimental group 1), mother self-help group (experimental group 2) and child control group (control group). The students in experimental group 1 were administered an 8-session psycho-education program for coping with aggression. Participating children were aged 9–10 years. The self-help group was formed with the mothers of children in the experimental 2 group. The control groups received no interventions. The students’ aggression levels were determined using the Aggression Questionnaire, which was developed by Buss and Perry and adapted to Turkish by Can (2002). Children’s aggressive behaviors were mainly determined as physical aggression (hitting others, fighting, throwing pencils) and verbal aggression (threatening, shouting loudly). The questionnaire was administered as pre-test, post-test, and follow-up measurements to the experimental and control group students. In comparison to the psycho-education group, the self-help group conducted with mothers was found to be more effective in reducing aggression. When the post-test and follow-up scores of the psycho-education group and the control group were analyzed, although there was very little increase in the scores, a significant increase was reported in the follow-up scores of the self-help group. This finding indicates that the effect of efficient help could diminish in extraordinary circumstances.