Uncontrollable Anger Prevalent Among U.S. Youth: Almost Two-Thirds Have History of Anger Attacks

Although not addressed in this study, I couldn’t help but wonder if anger is “fed” by factors not easily determined as how we think about and treat people on an everyday basis.
This morning on Facebook, a friend posted an item about snarkiness and how this affects one’s productivity.  However, I think snakiness not only affects oneself but the thoughts and actions of others.I couldn’t help but think that maybe snarky attitudes can somehow draw out anger in others. Yes, we are all ultimately responsible for our actions and thoughts. But we are also “our brother’s keeper”.

This article made me more aware of how I think and act towards teens, and how I need to rethink my thoughts and actions.

 

From the 2 July 2012 ScienceDaily article

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. adolescents have experienced an anger attack that involved threatening violence, destroying property or engaging in violence toward others at some point in their lives. These severe attacks of uncontrollable anger are much more common among adolescents than previously recognized, a new study led by researchers from Harvard Medical School finds.

The study, based on the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Adolescent Supplement, a national face-to-face household survey of 10,148 U.S. adolescents, found that nearly two-thirds of adolescents in the U.S. have a history of anger attacks. It also found that one in 12 young people — close to six million adolescents — meet criteria for a diagnosis of Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), a syndrome characterized by persistent uncontrollable anger attacks not accounted for by other mental disorders.

The results were published July 2 inArchives of General Psychiatry.
[Full Text of the Report here] 

IED has an average onset in late childhood and tends to be quite persistent through the middle years of life. ..

Related articles

• Uncontrollable anger prevalent among U.S. youth: Almost two-thirds have history of anger attacks (sciencedaily.com)
• Uncontrollable anger prevalent among US youth (medicalxpress.com)
• Warning over youth anger ‘disorder’ (bigpondnews.com)
• Uncontrollable anger prevalent among US youth (eurekalert.org)
• Teen rage: Anger-related disorders on the rise (vancouversun.com)
• The age of rage: psychiatrists battle over teen anger diagnosis (theprovince.com)
• The age of rage: psychiatrists battle over teen anger diagnosis (canada.com)
• One in 12 teens have ‘intermittent explosive disorder,’ study finds (news.nationalpost.com)
• Harvard Researchers Study “Intermittent Explosive Disorder” (IED); Aggression in Adolescents (madinamerica.com)
• Does your teen have a severe anger disorder? (thechart.blogs.cnn.com)