title: Anger, interpersonal relationships, and health-related quality of life in bullying boys who are treated with outpatient family therapy: a randomized, prospective, controlled trial with 1 year of follow-up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ten to 30% of students engage in bullying behavior. Bullies stand out on account of increased anger, poor interpersonal relationships, and poor quality of life. Our aim was to determine the effectiveness of outpatient family psychotherapy as a monotherapy for anger reduction and improvement of behavior and interpersonal relationships and of health-related quality of life in male youths with bullying behavior.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-two boys with bullying behavior took part in a family therapy program for 6 months. The control group was also composed of 22 youths and took part in a placebo intervention program. Every 2 weeks, results were checked with the Adolescents Risky-Behavior Scale (ARBS), the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-D), and the SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36). Follow-up testing took place 12 months after treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In comparison with the control group (according to the intention-to-treat principle), bullying behavior was reduced (family therapy group: from n = 22 to n = 6; control group: from n = 22 to n = 20). Significant changes on all ARBS scales and on the STAXI scales State-Anger, Trait-Anger, Anger-Out, and Anger-Control were observed after 6 months. In the IIP-D, significant differences were found on the scales for overly autocratic, overly competitive, overly introverted, overly expressive, and exploitable/compliant. In the SF-36, significant differences were observed in general health perceptions, vitality, social functioning, role-emotional, and mental health. The reduction in expression of anger correlated with a reduction in several scales of the ARBS, IIP-D, and SF-36. Follow-up after 1 year showed relatively stable, lasting treatment effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study show that outpatient family therapy seems to be an effective method of reducing anger and improving interpersonal relationships and health-related quality of life in male youths with bullying behavior.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Inntalklinik, Simbach/Inn, Germany. m.nickel@inntalklinik.de
authors.forename: Marius K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: Jakub
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krawczyk
authors.forename: Cerstin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Forthuber
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kettler
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Leiberich
authors.forename: Moritz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muehlbacher
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tritt
authors.forename: Ferdinand O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Mitterlehner
authors.forename: Claas
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lahmann
authors.forename: Wolfhardt K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Rother
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Loew
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000786:Anger; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D005195:Family Relations; D005196:Family Therapy; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors