Teach self-control, improve kids' behavior

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 9 (UPI) -- Children taught skills to monitor and control their anger and emotions improved their classroom behavior, U.S. researchers found.

The study, published in the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, found children in a school-based mentoring program were about half as likely as others to have any discipline incident during the 3-month period of the study.

Lead author Peter Wyman, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said those children had a 43 percent decrease in mean suspensions as compared to the control group, which did not receive mentoring of the self-control skills.

In the 4-month interval after the intervention began, 1.8 percent of children in the mentored group were suspended, compared to 6.1 percent of the control group. Children taught the new skills had a 46 percent decrease in mean office disciplinary referrals as compared to the children in the study's control group, the study said.

Self-control and reducing escalation of emotions is taught through the concept of a "feelings thermometer" to depict intensity, Wyman said.

Children learn to use "mental muscles" as a tool to monitor feelings and to stop feelings from entering a hot zone. They also learn to maintain control and regain equilibrium through strategies such as taking a deep-breath, stepping back from emotionally intense situations and using an imaginary umbrella as protection from hurtful words.