Managing Aggression In Young Adults Through Group – Therapy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
‘Taming The Tiger Within’: Managing Aggression In Young Adults (18 - 25 Years) Through Group Therapy - A Grounded Theory Study
IRAS ID
159939
Contact name
Oby Osuchukwu
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Roehampton
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
IRAS Project ID: 159939 ,
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 29 days
Research summary
Aggression is generally described as antisocial behaviour patterns directed at another person with the intention of causing harm while the besieged person is motivated to escape or avoid the attack (Geen, 2001). The notion that everybody, irrespective of age, gender, social class, education, etc., has the propensity to exhibit aggressive behaviours seems to be shared by many scholars but recent studies show that there is a progressive increase in the percentage of children and young adults who are diagnosed with aggression-related behavioural problems (NICE, 2013).
Longitudinal studies such as Farrington (2003); Dodge, Coie, & Lynam (2006), documented that significant number of children who were aggressive at 8 years old still remained aggressive at the age of 30. These studies indicated that without calculated effort to manage aggressive behaviours, they tend to persist over a long period of time. They recommended that early interventions are crucial to prevent wide range of behavioural and social problems in later life. Arnett (2000) offered that the need for intervention in the management of aggressive behaviours is particularly vital for young adults (aged 18 – 25 years) because of the transitory and unstable nature of this developmental stage of life. The study highlighted that many individuals at this stage of development encounter significant life changes and challenges as they transit from childhood to adulthood. Co-existence of aggressive behaviours and transitory developmental stage are therefore viewed as a crisis combination for young adults (Arnett, 2000).
Current Study
This study seeks to investigate the ways young adults (18-25) manage their aggressive behaviours and the strategies or experiences they found helpful & unhelpful in managing their aggressive behaviours following group therapy. The study also intends to explore these clients’ views on the appropriateness of age-sensitive group therapy in managing aggressive behaviours. The study will employ semi-structured interviews analysed by Grounded Theory.REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SC/0363
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion