• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.88-97
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• 2018

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a profanity intervention application on interpersonal relationship ability, aggression, and empathic ability among female middle school students. Method: The subjects of the present study were freshmen students at a girls' middle school in Gyeonggi-do. The profanity intervention application was implemented from November 20th to 27th, 2017. The pre- and post-tests were conducted one week before and two weeks after the intervention, respectively. The study was designed as a randomized controlled study and the collected data were analyzed using SPSS/WIN 23.0 (Chicago, IL). A homogeneity test between the two groups was performed using $x^2$ test, Fisher's exact test, independent t-test, and ANCOVA. Results: The two groups were found to be homogeneous in the pre-test. After the implementation of the profanity intervention application, aggression significantly decreased (F=20.17, p<.001) and interpersonal reactivity (F=5.92, p=.023) and empathy (F=11.10, p=.003) significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group. Among the factors related with aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and hostility significantly decreased in the experimental group. Meanwhile, among the factors of interpersonal reactivity, empathic concern and perspective-taking significantly increased and, among the factors of empathy, cognitive empathy significantly increased in the experimental group compared to the control group. Conclusion: Based on the findings of the present study, various intervention programs that can consistently improve the moral and ethical sensitivity of students should be presented starting from elementary school to prevent verbal violence in adolescents.