ABSTRACT
The effects of school stress and the risk of school failure on anger, violence, substance abuse, and delinquent behavior were investigated with junior high school students. “At-Risk” students were compared with “Average” students and “High Achievers” on five types of problem behaviors. Significant positive correlations were found between trait anger and anger expression (Anger-Out) with measures of Violence, Drug Use, Property Damage, Theft, and Nonserious Delinquency; Anger-Control correlated negatively with these problem behaviors. At-Risk students had significantly higher scores than the High Achievers on all of these problem behaviors and significantly higher scores than the Average group on Violence and Drug Use. The predictive power of the anger measures was also demonstrated by the significant correlations that were found with the problem behaviors for all three groups. The finding that the experience and expression of anger were better predictors of adolescent problem behaviors than teachers' ratings supports an anger-mediated model for helping students cope with school stress.
