An Implicit Theories of Personality Intervention Reduces Adolescent Aggression in Response to Victimization and Exclusion

Adolescents are often resistant to interventions that reduce aggression in children. At the same time, they are developing stronger beliefs in the fixed nature of personal characteristics, particularly aggression. The present intervention addressed these beliefs. A randomized field experiment with a diverse sample of Grades 9 and 10 students (ages 14–16, n = 230) tested the impact of a 6-session intervention that taught an incremental the-ory (a belief in the potential for personal change). Compared to no-treatment and coping skills control groups, the incremental theory group behaved significantly less aggressively and more prosocially 1 month postinter-vention and exhibited fewer conduct problems 3 months postintervention. The incremental theory and the coping skills interventions also eliminated the association between peer victimization and depressive symptoms. Adolescent aggression extracts a staggering cost in human suffering. Apart from the human toll, the direct and indirect economic costs exceed $158 bil-lion per year in the United States alone (Children’s Safety Network Economics & Data Analysis Resource Center’s, 2008). Although some aggression may be unprovoked, many aggressive behaviors are responses to provocations, such as peer victimiza-tion or exclusion (Olweus, 1993; Ostrov, 2010; Reijntjes et al., 2010). Unfortunately, many preventa-tive interventions that are effective for reducing aggression or conduct problems in younger children have yielded inconsistent findings for adolescen