Freya Smith
Doctor of Clinical Psychology, (Doctor of Clinical Psychology)
Study Completed: 2015
College of Humanities & Social Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
The Impact of Aggression Replacement Training on Emotion Regulation and Aggressive Behaviour
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
Youth aggression has acute and long-term impacts on adolescents and their families. Deficient emotion regulation is a prominent risk factor for youth aggression. Although emotion regulation skills are targeted by many aggression interventions, outcome measures assess these skills less frequently than other social information processing abilities. Ms Smith investigated how effective Aggression Replacement Training (ART; a school-based psycho-educational programme) is for adolescents in New Zealand schools. She found improvements in participants’ emotional regulation, anger control, and social skills, as well as reductions in externalising behaviours and cognitive distortions related to aggression. Her findings support using ART as an effective means of reducing the risk of aggressive behaviour and as an alternative to exclusionary discipline in New Zealand schools.
Supervisors
Associate Professor Ross Flett
Dr Angela McNaught