The Role of Empathy, Communication Skills and Conflict Resolution in Reducing Adolescents' Aggressive Behavior: Violence at Schools

Objective This study was carried out to investigate the role of empathy, communication skills and conflict resolution in reducing adolescents' aggressive behavior.
Methods This experimental study used a pretest/ posttest design with a control group. The study population included male high school students in Hamedan and Tehran cities, Iran. The sampling in the first step was done through multistage cluster sampling and in the second step, random substitution sampling was used. In addition, to increase the confidence coefficient and controlling the examinees’ drop-out, twenty students were allocated to each group and were divided into 4 groups through random substitution sampling. First, the interpersonal aggressive questionnaire was administered to the students. Then, 80 students (i.e., 40 students in each province) were chosen from those whose scores were upper than the cut-off point. Afterwards, they were randomly assigned to the control and experimental group. The social skills programs were performed in 10 sessions (i.e., each group session took 90 minutes). In addition to the interpersonal aggressive questionnaire, the study instruments included Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Inventory, Emotional Control Scale, and the second version of Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II. To analyze the data, MANCOVA analysis was conducted.
Results The results indicated that teaching the social skills to high school students increases empathy skills, effective communication and conflict resolution.
Conclusion Teaching the social skills have significant and positive effect on decreasing students’ tendency toward verbal and practical aggressive behaviors