PLAYING WITH ANGER--CULTURAL SOCIALIZATION INTERVENTION TO REDUCE YOUTH VIOLENCE

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DESCRIPTION: The purpose of this multi-systemic intervention research project is to assess, intervene with and reduce anger experience and expression during athletics (i.e., basketball play) for African American male teens who have a history of aggression, and to do so within a culturally-ecologically resilient framework. The intervention includes (a) martial arts aggression reduction curriculum (MAAR), (b) face to face in vivo anger management coaching during basketball play (PLAAY); (c) community-based parent empowerment education (COPE); and (d) a rites of passage program (ROPE). The intervention is designed to promote the development of safe and reliable relationships between youth and three key role model groups: Peers, undergraduate students, and older adult neighborhood volunteers. Over a four year period, 240 youth identified by parents or teachers as at-risk (120 in Year 2 and 120 in Year 3) will be recruited from urban community programs and randomly assigned to either experimental or control groups. These youth will be followed up to 36 months following the intervention. The primary objectives of the project are to (1) collaborate with community-based treatment programs to recruit youth with aggression problems and to reliable train project staff; (2) develop measures that assess racial socialization, anger expression, and successful family and neighborhood contexts; (3) implement a cultural socialization intervention to reduce youth anger and aggression during and after basketball play; (4) evaluate the efficacy, generalizability, and social validity of the intervention to reduce aggression after the basketball league is over, across settings and compared to a control group; and (5) disseminate study results.