The Effect of Group Play Therapy on Social Adjustment, Control of Anger and Loneliness of Children Between 11 - 12

One of the most effective ways to change the behavior is group play therapy. According to the prevalence of aggressive behaviors and the effects of aggression, the isolated behavior and loneliness on behavioral disorders in children and based on the numerous referrals of parents to counseling centers,, the purpose of this study was to clarify the efficiency of group games on social adjustment, anger control and loneliness. This semi-quasi-experimental research study was conducted based on pre-test-posttest design and 40 male elementary school students with an average age of 11 - 12 years in the first half of the academic year 2019-2020 in Kermanshah were selected based on "available sampling" method and were randomly divided to the) experimental (20 people) and control (20 people groups. The applied instruments in this study were Khanchi's Adjustment Questionnaire)1998(, Novako's Anger Control Questionnaire (1986) and Usher and Wheeler's Loneliness Feeling Scale (1985). However, the variables in both groups were evaluated through pretest, just the experimental group attended in eight 45-minute sessions of group playing therapy. According to the results obtained from covariance, a significant difference between the experimental and control groups in terms of loneliness and adjustment was recognized at the post-test stage. Based on the findings of this study, in fact, group playing therapy increased social adjustment about 35% and decreased loneliness about 38% in male children with ages 11-12 while no changes observed in aggression.