Cognitive Behavior Therapy for the Group-Based Treatment of Oppositional Youth

Abstract

(from the chapter) Aggression is one of the most stable problem behaviors in childhood, and may escalate over time to include a wide range of severe antisocial behaviors in adolescence. The negative developmental trajectory for aggressive children can lead to poor adjustment in the middle school years and to negative outcomes in adolescence such as drug and alcohol use, truancy and dropout, delinquency, and violence. The negative trajectory continues into adulthood for a portion of these children, with higher rates of criminal convictions and antisocial behavior. Because of the serious negative outcomes that can occur for aggressive children, intervention is critically important. Two related evidence-based interventions that will be discussed in this chapter are the group-based Anger Coping Program and the Coping Power Program. The Coping Power program is a multicomponent intervention that has 34 child sessions and 16 parent sessions. The Coping Power program includes separate child and parent components which are designed to run concurrently. The child and parent components differ in content, but both seek to address the main goal of reducing aggression and other disruptive behaviors in school-aged children. Toward this end, children and parents attend sessions in small groups across a period of approximately 16-18 months. The structure, content, and procedures used within each of these components will be described in the chapter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).