抄録
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of stress management(SM) education in an elementary school environment. In Experiment I, intervention effects on state anxiety were assessed using a within-subjects design. The SM education consisted of three phases(introduction, awareness training, and relaxation) over a three week period. Subjects (20 males and 19 females) completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (STAIC) before and after the second(S1) and third (S2) SM, Japanese Language (L), and Physical Education (PE) programs in different days. Results showed that two SM programs clearly improved state anxiety after each program although the L and PE programs did not show a difference between the pre and post-tests. In S2, females had lower state anxiety scores in the post-test than did the males. In Experiment II, two SM classes and one control class were compared in a between-sulbjects design. The first SM class (E1) was enhanced by respiration training and the other (E2) performed relaxation training. The control class (C) studied Japanese language instead of SM. All children completed the STAIC before and after the program. Results showed the E1 and E2 had a significantly lower state anxiety in the posttest than in the pretest after controlling for trait anxiety,while the C did not improve over time. The results of both experiments indicate that SM education significantly reduces state anxiety even after brief exposure. Specific implications for examining the effect of SM education for children were discussed along with recommendations for the future research.
