Behavioral and Emotional Effects of Anger Expression and Anger Management among Adolescents

Violence which is a form of physical aggression is on the rise among adolescents. Verbal and physical aggressions are associated with anger. Although anger is a common and natural emotion, problems associated with inappropriate expression of anger remain among the most serious concerns of parents, educators, and the mental health community. The aim of this descriptive study was to ascertain the behavioral and emotional effects of expression of anger and ways of managing anger among adolescents. Subjects for this study were 1162 (552 male and 610 female) adolescents age between 14 to 16 years old. They were randomly selected from all public schools in the state of Selangor in West Malaysia. The instrument used was developed based on the definition of anger and the eight dimensions suggested by Sisco (1991), , Novaco (1994), and Spielberger (1988). Nearly everyone in the study said that they had experienced anger. When angry, 7.1% hit other people while 25.1 resort to hitting objects while 27.8% became aggressive verbally or cursing. More than 50% seemed to have regretted expressing their anger while 44.7% felt like asking for forgiveness. A majority or 64.5% of the subjects said that they resort to calming themselves when they felt angry.