Kate Defends Dissertation on Regional Differences in Relational Aggression

Kate Czar successfully defended her dissertation yesterday. Her study, Regional Differences in Relational Aggression: The Role of Culture, compared college students from two regions of the U.S. (one northern and one southern) on relational aggression, gender role attitudes, and normative beliefs about aggression. Southern participants were more likely to report engaging in relationally aggressive behaviors and endorsed more traditional gender roles than did northern participants. Apart from the regional differences, gender role attitudes were associated with relational aggression in that participants holding more traditional gender role attitudes were more likely to report behaving in relationally aggressive ways. Independent of physical aggressiveness, gender role attitudes predicted relational aggression among women.

Congratulations to Kate on an excellent defense!

Help Seeking for Anger Problems

David Boudreaux, a first year doctoral student working in the lab, proposed his master's thesis today. David's thesis is titled Help Seeking for Anger Problems Among College Students.

Help Seeking for Anger Problems Among College Students

In spite of the importance of client motivation being widely recognized in the anger management literature, there have been surprisingly few studies examining motivation and readiness to change. Part of the problem is that we lack psychometrically sound instruments for assessing these constructs in the context of anger. David's thesis involves the development and initial validation of a new self-report scale designed to assess attitudes and intentions toward seeking anger management services.

NAMA Certification Complete

Receiving Distinguished Diplomate status from the National Anger Management Association (NAMA) allowed me to apply for certification as an Anger Management Specialist V. Based on NAMA’s review of my application and training materials, I have just been informed that I have received this certification. This allows me to train and supervise mental health professionals interested in pursuing NAMA certification.

I think this will be good for the Lab for a few reasons. First, competence in providing anger management services is a highly marketable skill for students entering the job market. A credential, while not yet necessary to provide services in many areas, communicates a level of training that many employers will take seriously. Second, once the NAMA authorized training program is up and running, credentialing will become much more affordable to graduate students working in the Lab. And third, such a training program may help with student and client recruitment.

Dr. Dahlen Receives Distinguished Diplomate Status From NAMA

I was recently honored to receive Distinguished Diplomate membership in the National Anger Management Association (NAMA) following board review.

NAMA is a non-profit professional organization working to advance anger management services and build community among those involved in the study and treatment of anger. Their mission includes improving the quality of anger management services available to the public, supporting mental health professionals who provide these services, and facilitating research on anger. NAMA provides leadership at the national level through their certification program, specialist directory, and research support.

I look forward to working with NAMA to promote the science and practice of anger management.

What is Relational Aggression?

relational aggression
Relational aggression refers to a set of behaviors through which the aggressor harms others by adversely affecting their social relationships, reputation, and/or feelings of inclusion or belonging (Crick et al., 1999; Linder, Crick, & Collins, 2002). Common examples include spreading malicious rumors and gossip, social exclusion, and public embarrassment.

Psychologists have been studying relational aggression since the mid-1990s, and it has long been recognized as a problem by many parents of school-aged children. However, it took the 2004 film Mean Girls to bring relational aggression to the attention of the larger public. Since then, the costs of relational aggression among children and early adolescents have become increasingly clear. Victims are more likely to suffer from a variety of psychological problems, including anxiety and depression; both victims and aggressors are more likely to misuse substances and engage in a number of delinquent behaviors (Archer & Coyne, 2005; Sullivan, Farrell, & Kliewer, 2006).

Surprisingly little is known about relational aggression among older adolescents and adults, but this is slowly starting to change. Research is underway to investigate the nature of relationally aggressive behaviors among college students. One of the interesting findings to emerge so far is that the gender difference observed among children and younger adolescents (i.e., relational aggression is more common among girls) does not appear to be present.

Lab Member Heading to Texas State University - San Marcos for Internship

Congratulations to Kate Czar, an advanced doctoral student working in the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab, who learned today that she matched successfully in the predoctoral internship match process.

Kate has been interested in working at a university counseling center for some time, and she is excited to have a position at her top choice: the Texas State University - San Marcos Counseling Center. We’re proud of you, Kate!

Lab's Work Noticed by the Wall Street Journal

Our work at the Anger and Traffic Psychology Lab was noted by The Wall Street Journal in an article published today about “sidewalk rage.” I was one of several anger researchers interviewed for the story, and the author did an impressive job of capturing the current state of the research on this form of aggression.

“Sidewalk rage” is a relatively new term being used to describe aggressive behavior between pedestrians, but it is already starting to generate interest in major cities. According to the article, a measure of pedestrian aggressiveness has been developed, and this should facilitate additional research. It will be interesting to see how pedestrian aggressiveness compares to aggressive driving. I expect the processes underlying both conditions to be similar; however, I would not be surprised to find some important differences as well. For example, I suspect that impatience may play a bigger role in aggression among pedestrians than it does among drivers.