A previously developed anger management treatment package of 10 to 12 sessions was condensed to a 4-session package to be given within 2 weeks. Immediate effectiveness and the transfer of skills were investigated; anger management skills not only had to be acquired, they also had to be used in the adolescents' natural social interactions. Fifty adolescent psychiatric inpatients were selected for high levels of anger, and they were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. The treatment was the Anger Management Group Training series, and the control condition was a series of psychoeducational videotapes on topics relevant to adolescents. Each of the group sessions was 45-50 minutes long. Pretreatment and posttreatment measures were administered to subjects and adults who rated the subjects' behaviors. Pre/post self-report measures, as well as behavior ratings by adults, show that the patients who participated in the anger management series exhibited significantly improved skills. The results suggest that the intervention for adolescents was effective even though it was condensed, but it should not be further abbreviated. Efforts to extrapolate laboratory research into real-world problems continue to be a clear challenge for future research. 5 tables, 2 figures, and 46 references