Social-Emotional Competence Trajectories from a School-Based Child Trauma Symptom Intervention in a Disadvantaged Community

Childhood exposure to traumatic experiences and subsequent psychological symptoms increase the risk for lifelong behavioral and mental health problems, including depression diagnoses, reduced adaptive coping strategies, substance abuse, and early death, with negative impacts on children's social development and academic achievement. Social-emotional competence (SEC) is a key component of resilience to trauma exposure, and early deficits predict increased problem behaviors include delinquency and substance use. SEC is a protective factor that moderates the relationship between risks associated with trauma and subsequent outcomes. The current study used a longitudinal experimental design (treatment vs. comparison) to examine outcomes from a trauma-informed initiative in a disadvantaged community with high trauma exposure rates for K-8th grade students (n = 245). The intervention focused on bolstering children's social-emotional skills and resilience while reducing trauma symptoms and improving academic performance through multimodal programming. Hierarchical Linear Modeling indicated significant improvements in SEC from the intervention group, in contrast to the comparison group (B = 3.42, t = 3.04, p < 0.01), with gender effects indicating females see the greatest benefit (B = 3.52, t = 4.27, p < 0.01). Results indicated the significance of addressing SEC for children in disadvantaged communities, particularly those indicating a trauma history and resulting symptomology, as well as boys, who indicated reduced treatment effects.