Anger management in college students

Abstract

Dating violence is a significant and prevalent problem facing college students (Harned, 2002). There are many factors associated with such violence and among these factors, maladaptive anger management skills are significant (Dye & Eckhardt, 2002). A variety of personality traits are strongly associated with the use of maladaptive anger management skills, and a thorough understanding of such traits is essential for effective treatment and prevention of dating violence. In the present study, the relationship between narcissism, Masculine Gender Role Stress (MGRS), and anger management skills is explored. These personality variables were selected due to their strong association with aggression and the perpetration of violence (Twenge & Campbell, 2003; Jakupcak, Lisak, & Roemer, 2002). A latent class analysis (LCA) (Dayton, 1999), is employed to uncover latent or “hidden” subgroups of participants, classified according to their similarities regarding narcissism, MGRS, and anger management skills. LCA (similar to factor analysis) is used to determine the optimal number of hidden (latent) subgroups that best describe the relationship between these three variables for participants in the study. MGRS was excluded from the analysis of female data. For men, it was predicted that a high MGRS/high narcissism group endorsing high levels of maladaptive anger management strategies would emerge, and that a low MGRS/low narcissism group endorsing high levels of adaptive anger management strategies would emerge. For women, it was predicted that a high narcissism group endorsing high levels of maladaptive anger management strategies would emerge, and that a low narcissism group endorsing high levels of adaptive anger management strategies would emerge. A 3-class (or 3-group) solution best fit the data for both men and women in this study. For men, Class 1 was categorized by moderate MGRS/low Narcissism; Class 2 was categorized by moderate MGRS/high narcissism; and class three was categorized by high MGRS/moderate narcissism. Only Class 1 and Class 2 differed with regard to anger management skills; the more narcissistic group of men in Class 2 was more likely to endorse maladaptive anger management strategies than the less narcissistic group of men in Class 1. MGRS did not affect the endorsement of anger management skills for men in this study. For women, Class 1 was categorized by moderate levels of narcissism; Class 2 was categorized by low levels of narcissism; and, Class 3 was categorized by high levels of narcissism. The more narcissistic group in Class 3 was more likely to endorse higher levels of maladaptive anger management strategies than the less narcissistic group in Class 2. For both men and women, high levels of narcissism were associated with the endorsement of maladaptive anger management skills. Implications for these findings are discussed in terms of clinical and dating violence prevention work, and suggestions for future research are made.