Featured White Papers
- PCI DSS therapy for the smaller retailer (McAfee)
- Oct. 14th: Simplified IT with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) (ZDNet)
- The rise of Web commuting (Citrix Online)
Content provided in partnership with
School Connectedness, Anger Behaviors, and Relationships of Violent and Nonviolent American Youth
Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, Oct-Dec 2004 by Thomas, Sandra P, Smith, Helen
The survey instrument had been developed by the second author (Smith, 2000) for a previous Internet study assessing factors salient to youth violence. Items were based on literature review and clinical experience of the second author, a forensic psychologist. The resultant data from that survey were used for an in-depth secondary analysis focusing exclusively on the female respondents (Smith & Thomas, 2000). The survey tool was slightly modified for the present study by deleting some items about television-watching habits and adding a question about race (an inadvertent omission from the first study). Five demographic items assessed age, race, state of residence, grade in school, and sex. Respondents also were queried about juvenile justice charges (if any), and bringing weapons to school. School connectedness was assessed by the question "How do you feel about school?" Relationships with classmates were assessed by the question, "Do your classmates like you?" Relationships with family members were assessed by the question, "How do you get along with your family?" Because fair treatment is an important element of school connectedness (see Bonny et al, 2000), students were questioned about their perceptions of the fairness of school discipline. Other questions ascertained perceptions of home discipline and general perceptions of adult fairness toward kids. Respondents were also questioned about feelings of loneliness or sadness, and what they did when feeling lonely or sad. Anger behaviors were assessed by the Framingham Anger Scales (FAS), which were embedded within the questionnaire, along with an item asking respondents if they had ever felt angry enough to hit, and if so, what produced the anger. The opportunity to write a short narrative was provided. Room for writein responses was provided after several other questions and at the end of the survey. For example, if respondents believed they were disliked by classmates, they could write in an explanation of why this was so.
The Framingham Anger Scales were selected for inclusion in the survey because they include both healthy and unhealthy anger expression styles and the participant response burden is low. The FAS subscales assess four modes of anger expression: anger-in (suppression of angry feelings); anger-out (anger taken out on others in an attacking or blaming way); anger-symptoms (intense physical symptoms experienced during anger arousal, such as headache or shakiness); and anger-discussion (the healthier choice of talking about the anger with another person, such as a friend or relative). The FAS were developed for the well-known prospective study of heart disease risk in Framingham, MA, and published in an article about the instrumentation for that study (Haynes, Levine, Scotch, Feinleib, & Kannel, 1978). Using a 3-point response format, participants indicate how likely they are to behave in each of the specified ways when they are "really angry or annoyed." Items for the FAS test battery were selected from a 300-item pool by expert judges and evaluated by both item analysis and factor analysis (Haynes et al.). Internal consistency reliability (ascertained by Cronbach's alpha) of the FAS was acceptable in several large studies of young people and adults previously conducted by the first author and colleagues (Ausbrooks, Thomas, & Williams, 1995; Thomas, 1993).
Find Research Guides for:
Find Featured Titles for: Reference
- Academe
- African American Review
- African Arts
- African Studies Review
- Afro-Americans in New York Life and History
- Alabama Heritage
- Alabama Review
- American Mathematical Monthly, The
- Anglican Theological Review
- Annals of Dyslexia
- Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ)
- Auk, The
- Australian Journal of Anthropology, The
- Christian Century
- Natural History
Most Popular Articles in Health
- Fuel your workout: exercisers who eat before they work out have more energy ...
- Soothe a dry, itchy scalp: 5 easy expert solutions
- Cocktails and calories: Beer, wine and liquor calories can really add up. ...
- The sour truth about apple cider vinegar - evaluation of therapeutic use
- The, six best supplements you've never heard of: these secret weapons can ...
- More »