Search

Behavioral trajectories during middle childhood are predictive of consequential outcomes later in life (e.g., substance abuse, violence). Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are designed to promote trajectories that reflect both growth in positive behaviors and inhibited development of negative behaviors. The current study used growth mixture models to examine effects of the "Positive Action" program (PA) on behavioral trajectories of social-emotional and character development (SECD) and misconduct using data from a cluster-randomized trial that involved 14 schools and a sample of predominately low-income, urban youth followed from 3rd through 8th grade. For SECD, findings indicated that PA was similarly effective at improving trajectories within latent classes characterized as "High/declining" and "Low/stable". Favorable program effects were likewise evident to a comparable degree for misconduct across observed latent classes that reflected "Low/rising" and "High/rising" trajectories. These findings suggest that PA and perhaps other school-based universal SEL programs have the potential to yield comparable benefits across subgroups of youth with differing trajectories of positive and negative behaviors, making them promising strategies for achieving the intended goal of school-wide improvements in student outcomes. [This paper was published in "Prevention Science" v18 p214-224 2017.]

Several social-emotional learning (SEL) or social-emotional and character development (SECD) programs have been shown to be effective at improving SEL/SECD skills, and some have also provided evidence of effectiveness in improving student behavior and academic achievement (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011). Very few SEL or SECD programs have replicated effects for all three of these domains of outcomes with students of different cultural/ethnic backgrounds in schools of different socioeconomic status and urbinicity. In education research, replication with different populations in different settings is important for understanding the generalizability of findings. In this paper, the author reports results from two cluster-randomized trials of the SEL/SECD program, "Positive Action" ("PA") across two very different groups of students and contexts: (1) 20 suburban and rural elementary schools (specifically grades 2/3 to grades 5/6) on three Hawai'i islands in 2002-2006; and (2) 14 high-poverty, inner-city Chicago elementary schools (specifically grade 3 to grade 8) in 2004-2010. One table is appended. [The initial phase of the Chicago trial (R305L030072), a component of the Social and Character Development (SACD) Research Consortium, was a collaboration among Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Violence Prevention, Mathematica Policy Research Inc. (MPR), and awardees of SACD cooperative agreements (Children's Institute, New York University, Oregon State University, University at Buffalo-SUNY, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and Vanderbilt University).]

Reviews etiology and prevention literatures, exploring relationships between problem and positive youth behaviors, commonalities among predictors, and implications for prevention. Risky/unhealthy/antisocial behaviors, poor mental health, and poor academic achievement are highly prevalent, posing critical dilemmas for adults. All behaviors are highly correlated with, and predict, each other; have similar risk and protective factors; and strongly influence success and happiness. Examples of successful programs are included. (Contains references.) (SM)

How log-linear models for multiwave longitudinal data can be used to test hypotheses relating to stagelike relationships between variables is demonstrated using data from research on adolescent cigarette and marijuana experimentation. Results with 2,658 adolescents show that the multiwave analyses allow the testing of several hypotheses. (SLD)