Prosocial Skills Causally Mediate the Relation between Effective Classroom Management and Academic Competence: An Application of Direction Dependence Analysis

Direction dependence analysis (DDA) is a recently developed method that addresses the need for more sophisticated tools to evaluate causal mechanisms of developmental processes and interventions. The present study applied DDA to evaluate the hypothesized mediators of a classroom behavior management training program on student academic competence. The study involved a group randomized controlled trial with 105 teachers and 1,818 students (K-3rd grade) in a large urban school district in the United States. Analyses revealed only student prosocial skill development causally mediated the intervention's effects on student academic competence. The findings support the importance of explicit instruction and coaching of student social skills as part of classroom behavior management programs and confirm the causal link between prosocial skills and academic success. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for future applications of DDA in developmental research.