Dealing With Anger: A Violence Prevention Program for African American Youth

A set of two unique, video-based training programs — one for males and one for females. Each gender specific version is designed to teach African American youth specific prosocial skills that will help reduce their risk of becoming victims or perpetrators of violence. Training is built around three video segments.

• Givin’ It: how to express criticism in a nonthreatening manner
• Takin’ It: how to accept criticism without acting irrationally
• Workin’ It Out: how to negotiate a solution without resorting to aggressive or violent behavior

Dealing with Anger features real-life conflict situations that are realistic in terms of cultural issues, language, and dress.

Content Highlights

Each video segment begins with a vignette of a conflict situation that escalates into a potentially dangerous confrontation. The vignettes are narrated by Bernie, a street-smart character who earns the trust and respect of viewers as he takes them through the conflict situations. He freezes the action and describes a skill that could have been used to defuse the violence. The same situation is played out again, but this time the appropriate skill is used and the problem is solved without resorting to aggressive behavior.

Content Highlights—Program for Males

• Givin’ It: Conflict Situation—John is really hot! His sister broke up with Chico and now Chico’s been spreading rumors about her being pregnant.
• Takin’ It: Conflict Situation—Marcus’s father comes down hard on him for getting poor grades in school. He demands that Marcus bring up his grades and straighten out his attitude.
• Workin’ It Out: Conflict Situation—Chad notices that the gym shoes Lamont is wearing are the same ones that were stolen from his locker. Lamont says that he bought the shoes from a friend.

Content Highlights—Program for Females

• Givin’ It: Conflict Situation—After a confrontation with a white male teacher, Tasha storms out of the classroom feeling humiliated in front of her friends. She feels that the teacher is prejudiced and intentionally “calls her out” while overlooking the behaviors of other students.
• Takin’ It: Conflict Situation—Tiphnee is confronted angrily by her older sister regarding rumors that she has heard. She demands that Tiphnee “get her act together” and stop ruining the family’s reputation.
• Workin’ It Out: Conflict Situation—Dion and Lyn are furious with each other as they argue about the “boyfriend” they both claim to be theirs. They each contend that the other person is lying about who said what to whom.

Program Review

“This well designed video-based training program is a valuable resource that can be used in working with African American youth to implement a non-violent approach to conflict resolution.”

—Daniel D. Drake, Journal of Staff Development