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Effects of Child Skills Training in Preventing Antisocial Behavior: A Systematic Review of Randomized Evaluations
Abstract
This article reports a meta-analysis on social skills training as a measure for preventing antisocial behavior in children and youth. From 851 documents, 84 reports containing 135 comparisons between treated and untreated youngsters (N = 16,723) fulfilled stepwise eligibility criteria (e.g., randomized control-group design, focus on prevention). Despite a wide range of positive and negative effect sizes, the majority confirmed the benefits of treatment. The best estimated mean effects were d = .38 (postintervention) and .28 (follow-up). Effects were smaller on antisocial behavior than on related social and cognitive measures. Studies with large samples produced lower effect sizes than those with smaller samples. Programs targeting at-risk groups had better effects than universal programs. Modes of treatment did not differ significantly; however, cognitive-behavioral programs had the strongest impact on antisocial behavior. More well-controlled studies with large samples, hard outcome criteria, and long follow-up periods are needed, particularly outside the United States.
... Without intervention, many of the preschoolers with conduct problems will start a trajectory that leads to more serious emotional, behavioral, and related mental health problems [9]. One-third of the children with early externalizing behavior problems continue on a trajectory of problem behavior through adolescence and adulthood [10]. Along the same line, Sentse and his colleagues [11] found that children with early onset conduct problems are at heightened risk for internalizing, externalizing, In reviewing the literature on SSIs, most of the previous meta-analyses included a wider age range of children. ...
... However, some researchers found smaller effect sizes for younger children's behaviors. For example, Lösel and Beelmann [10] conducted a meta-analytic review of 84 research reports for social skills training programs for children aged 0-18 years old. The mean postintervention effect was d = 0.38, whereas the mean follow-up effect size was d = 0.28. ...
... The average effect size across all the 25 included studies (M = 0.54) indicated moderate effects of SSIs on children's social behaviors for preschoolers at risk of emotional and behavioral problems. This overall finding is consistent with previous research, which has found small-to-moderate effects for students with EBD across age groups [10,[20][21][22]. The second research question focused on the differential effects of SSIs in three areas: (a) socialcognitive skills, (b) problem behaviors, and (c) social competence. ...
Early social–behavioral intervention that emphasizes social skill training is critical to addressing emotional and behavioral problems in early childhood. In this meta-analysis review, we examined all the social skills intervention studies for preschoolers with, or at risk of, emotional and behavioral problems using group designs. This review included 25 studies that met the inclusion criteria. The robust variance estimation method was used to calculate the overall effect size of all the included studies, as this method can count for the pre-existing difference between the experiment and control groups. The included studies yielded an overall effect of 0.54 from the 151 effect sizes that were obtained for the 3484 preschool participants. Curriculum, integration, and treatment fidelity were identified as significant moderators of effects.
... Therefore, the benefits of such early intervention may be wide reaching and long lasting. Early prevention could also take place in school with programs aiming to improve social skills (Losel and Beelmann, 2003) and provide education about relationships two potential approaches. ...
... Social skills training for children is defined as a structured program with a limited number of sessions focussed on teaching nonaggressive modes of social perception, self-control, anger management, victim empathy, interpersonal problem solving, interpersonal interaction and related skills (Losel and Beelmann, 2003). Antisocial behaviour (ASB) rather than offending is generally the outcome measured, with the one systematic review finding social skills training decreased ASB (Losel and Beelmann, 2003). ...
... Social skills training for children is defined as a structured program with a limited number of sessions focussed on teaching nonaggressive modes of social perception, self-control, anger management, victim empathy, interpersonal problem solving, interpersonal interaction and related skills (Losel and Beelmann, 2003). Antisocial behaviour (ASB) rather than offending is generally the outcome measured, with the one systematic review finding social skills training decreased ASB (Losel and Beelmann, 2003). Programs that targeted high risk young people rather than those less targeted showed greatest effect (Losel and Beelmann, 2003). ...
Introduction The victim-offender overlap is an important phenomenon in criminology (Jennings et al, 2012). The research supporting the existence of the overlap is undisputable and it is arguably one of the most significant facts in criminology (Bottoms and Costello, 2010). Current research has neglected critical areas and answers are needed about how victimisation and offending co-occur and how to identify those victim-offenders who are most harmed (Bottoms and Costello, 2010). Furthermore, there is limited knowledge about what effect interventions such as out of court disposals (OOCD) have on the overlap, or if there is potential to build a triage tool or algorithm to identify the most harmed in future. Research questions These will focus on four areas victimisation – including types, frequency and harm, the victim-offender overlap, the impact on police reported victimisation by an OOCD, and finally if from criminal and victimisation history prior to the intervention date can outcomes post be predicted. 1). What does victimisation look like in low-level offenders when explored through police records in terms of prevalence, frequency, types, and harm? 2). What are the patterns and relationships between victimisation and offending in this sample? 3). What is the impact of an out of court disposal that aimed to be as effective at reducing offending as sending individuals to court on victimisation? 4). Can victimisation be predicted, and can who is most at-risk of becoming victim-offenders be predicted? Methods This PhD thesis used the police records of offending and victimisation from the sample of low-level offenders taking part in the Turning Point Project. Which was a randomised control trial (RCT) comparing sending low level offenders through court processing against an OOCD. Victimisation and offending data were collected from police data systems (CRIMES, Police National Computer, and ICIS), matched manually using name and date of birth. Before being analysed in R, basic descriptive statistics, correlations, and odds ratios were used for the first two parts of the analysis. Results from the RCT were analysed using chi square, effect sizes and survival analysis. The final section of the thesis used cox’s regression and binomial logistic regression to examine the impact of pre randomisation variables. Results The victim-offender overlap was found to be extensive with 63% of the sample reporting a form of victimisation. Victimisation experiences and involvement in offending varied throughout the sample. Violence was most the most prevalent form of both victimisation and offending, caused the most victimisation harm, and had the largest overlap between victimisation and offending. The analysis of harm indicated these low-level offenders reported victimisations that equalled a total 82,180.5 harm points on the Cambridge Crime Harm Index. Using a harm score allowed five different groupings for victimisation to be created, based on the total harm and total number of victimisations suffered. Combining victimisation and offending in this sample showed some complex patterns, and while the two were clearly related this was not a simple positive correlation. The results of the RCT showed no effect of the intervention on male low-level offenders for either prevalence, frequency, survival, or harm for victimisation. However, a significant backfire effect on all measures was seen for female low-level offenders. Further research concludes this effect is most likely attributable to the significantly higher victimisation occurring prior to randomisation. Finally, the results of the regression analysis indicated key variables associated with increased risk, although the models used here produced high rates of false negatives. Victimisation is more likely to occur if the individual is still involved in offending and key predictive variables differ between victim only, offender only, non-involved and victim-offenders. With victim-offenders tending to be younger, be involved in offending or victimisation prior. Discussion Consistent with prior research low-level offenders show a substantial overlap, indicating that low-level can be experiencing problematic and concerning levels of victimisation. While the precise mechanism cannot be discerned from this study, it is proposed that understanding both the individual propensity and the environmental exposure is important. This provides some suggestions for beneficial interventions and how to target victim-offenders effectively. While the results here did not produce a clear case for the benefits of OOCD, the results indicated for male low-level offenders the OOCD was “as good as” preventing victimisation as court processing. This mirrored the findings for offending for the OOCD, suggesting that inventions that have null effects on offending are likely to have the same on victimisation. The picture for female low-level offenders is more complex, and while it is likely related to the initially higher levels further investigation would be advisable. Finally, while the models used here produced high rates of false negatives and were limited in their explanatory power, they did highlight key variables and groups to focus on. Indicating this may be an approach to explore further in future. Policy implications This research suggests six key considerations for policy: 1). Given the amount of victimisation present in low level offenders any policy aimed at low level offenders needs to be written with the explicit understanding that there will be high levels of victimisation present. 2). Prevention of violence is a key policy that should be taken from this thesis. Violence was the most prevalent form of both victimisation and offending and caused the most harm from victimisation. 3). Issues are not distributed equally throughout, and resources should be targeted to those suffering or causing the most harm. Using number alongside harm may provide a context that allows better targeting of resources. 4). Any intervention research into preventing offending needs to include a measure of victimisation alongside that of offending, and vice versa. Without these important effects may be being missed, and policy decisions are not being made based on the best evidence. 5). Due to the link between victimisation and offending in those where cooccurring issues are identified, interventions should aim to approach both simultaneously. 6). Victimisation, offending and becoming a victim-offending appear to be outcomes that could to some degree be predicted through algorithms or machine learning. Therefore, policy should consider utilising this approach to improve the accuracy of decisions. Conclusion The study reiterates the importance of the victim-offender overlap and indicates even among low-level offenders the overlap can be extensive and problematic. The results here present important findings on several aspects including the first known analysis of victimisation from a RCT aimed at prevention of offending. The potential to prevent future harm from the policy implications outlined in this study are potentially vast, and the approaching victimisation and offending simultaneously could produce wide ranging benefits. The victim-offender overlap should be the centre of future policy and research.
... Findings regarding child age as a potential moderator of intervention have been somewhat mixed, with most meta-analyses finding age not to be a moderator across the intervention spectrum (e.g., Florean et al., 2020;Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Lundahl et al., 2006;Smeets et al., 2015;Sukhodolsky et al., 2004;van Stam et al., 2014). The most compelling evidence for the generalization of intervention effects across child age comes from recent meta-analyses of IY and of a broader range of PMT programs . ...
... interventions have been more mixed. Researchers have found no evidence of sex/gender differences for social skills training as a preventive intervention (Lösel & Beelmann, 2003), CBT for anger-related problems (Sukhodolsky et al., 2004), MST (van der Stouwe et al., 2014), or for a variety of evidence-based interventions in the U.S. justice system (Leve et al., 2015 ...
... Meta-analyses of Triple P (e.g., Sanders et al., 2014) and IY (e.g., Menting et al., 2013) have reported that treatment approaches (and for Triple P, also targeted prevention) evidence larger effect sizes on child behavior outcomes compared to universal prevention approaches (which typically deal with children with less severe CP). Similarly, Lösel and Beelmann (2003) reported a larger effect size for child skills training with indicated prevention samples than for universal and selected prevention samples. ...
Objective: The purpose of this Brief Report is to synthesize the current evidence base examining moderators of psychosocial intervention response for children and adolescents with conduct problems (CP). We also provide directions for future research.
Method: We focused on four categories of psychosocial interventions for the prevention and/or treatment of CP: (1) parent management training (PMT) for children, (2) other family-based interventions for adolescents, (3) youth skills training, and (4) multicomponent interventions (i.e., family-based intervention plus skills training). Emphasis is placed on findings from meta-analyses.
Results: Moderation analyses have occurred more frequently for PMT than for other types of interventions. Variables for which there was consistent evidence for positive moderation included higher initial severity of CP, father engagement, higher maternal depressive symptoms, individual administration (vs. group), and treatment/targeted prevention approaches (vs. universal prevention). Variables where there was evidence for no moderation (demonstrating generalizability) included child diagnostic status and family risk in PMT, and diagnostic status and intervention setting for skills training. However, for some variables, evidence of moderation was dependent on intervention type.
Conclusions: Future research should examine multiple moderators in combination; incorporate innovative techniques such as integrative data analyses, individual participant data, and class-based modeling, which may identify moderator effects that are undetected by more traditional variable-oriented moderation analyses; and conduct moderated mediation models for informing developmental theory on the interplay of risk and protective factors.
... Longitudinális kutatások igazolták, hogy a nem kognitív készségek hatékonyan fejleszthetõk az alsó-, a közép-, sõt a felsõfokú és felnõttoktatásban is. A hatáselemzések leírják, hogy a megfelelõ célokat kitûzõ, jól végrehajtott fejlesztõprogramok gyakran komolyabb változásokat érnek el, mint a diákok kognitív készségeinek fejlesztését célzó intézkedések (Heckman-Kautz 2013, Losel-Beelmann 2003, idézi Fazekas 2017. A tanulók nem kognitív készségeinek fejlesztése a pedagógusok részérõl teljesen más tudást és motivációt igényel, mint a kognitív készségek fejlesztése. ...
... Az iskolai végzettség mellett felértékelõdik az olyan, nem kognitív készségek szerepe, mint például a kooperativitás, a stressztûrõ képesség, a kíváncsiság, a kreativitás, amelyek a munkaadók számára is egyre fajsúlyosabbá válnak. Longitudinális kutatások bizonyították, hogy a nem kognitív készségek hatékonyan fejleszthetõk az oktatásban is az alsófokú képzéstõl kezdõdõen (Heckman-Kautz 2013, Losel-Beelmann 2003, idézi Fazekas 2017; így a nevelési-tanítási folyamatoknak is alkalmazkodniuk kell a dinamikusan változó környezet igényeihez. A hazánkban megvalósuló társasjátékos projektek -az eddigi tapasztalatok alapján -sikeresnek bizonyulnak a nem kognitív készségek hatékony fejlesztésében. ...
Napjaink technológiai lehetõségei és informatikai megoldásai olyan sebességgel fejlõdnek, amelyre számos ágazat csak meglehetõs fáziskéséssel képes reagálni. Változik a gazdaság ágazati és szakmaszerkezete is, új szakmák jelennek meg, illetve a meglévõek átalakulnak. Az automatizálás velejárója, hogy a humán munka egy része technológiailag helyettesíthetõvé válik. Ennek hazai munkaerõpiaci hatásairól készített kutatást az MKIK Gazdaság- és Vállalkozáskutató Intézet 2016-ban. Arra keresték – többek között – a választ, hogy a foglalkoztatott munkaerõ mekkora hányadát érintheti ez a folyamat.
A munkaerõpiaci igények változásai miatt egyre több kutatás foglalkozik azzal,
vajon milyen ismeretekre, képességekre lesz szüksége a ma iskoláskorúinak ahhoz,
hogy hatékony munkavállalók és sikeres életvezetésre képes felnõttek váljanak belõlük. Az automatizációból következõ szakmákon belüli feladatok tartalmi átrendezõdése magával vonja a nem kognitív készségeket igénylõ feladatok arányának és fontosságának a változását is (Schanzenbach 2016, Edin et al. 2017, Fazekas 2017). Autor és munkatársai (2003) az USA munkaerõpiacán egy 40 évet (1960–2000) átölelõ idõszakban áttekintették, hogy hogyan alakult a rutinjellegû és a nem rutinjellegû fizikai és kognitív, illetve szociális készségeket igénylõ munkafeladatok aránya. Kutatásuk arra az eredményre jutott, hogy ez idõ alatt folyamatosan növekedett a nem rutin kognitív és a szociális készségeket
igénylõ feladatok aránya, miközben folyamatosan csökkent a rutin és nem rutin jellegû fizikai munkafeladatok, valamint a rutin jellegû kognitív készségeket igénylõ munkafeladatok aránya (Fazekas 2017: 8). Valamelyest árnyalja ezt a képet Deming kutatása (2015/2017, idézi Fazekas 2017) az 1980–2012 közötti idõszakra vonatkozóan. ..
A nem kognitív készségeket az oktatás keretein belül játékpedagógiai módszerekkel
hatékonyan lehet fejleszteni. A következõkben áttekintjük, hogy hazánkban a társasjátékok milyen formában jelennek meg az oktatáshoz kapcsolódva, és tudatos alkalmazásuk milyen készségeket fejleszt akár a tanórákba építve, akár a szabadidõs tevékenységek egyik alternatívájaként.
... Longitudinal research has demonstrated that non-cognitive skills can be effectively developed at primary and secondary school, and even in adult education. According to impact assessments, development programmes with proper goals and with good implementation often bring about more serious changes than other measures aiming at the development of students' cognitive skills (Heckman-Kautz 2013, Losel-Beelmann 2003quoted by Fazekas 2017. ...
... Employers pay more attention to these skills. Longitudinal research has proved that non-cognitive skills can be effectively improved from primary school (Heckman-Kautz 2013, Losel-Beelmann, 2003quoted by Fazekas 2017, so education and teaching have to adapt to the needs of the dynamically changing environment. The (board) game projects implemented in Hungary are successful in the development of non-cognitive skills. ...
More and more research concentrate on what kind of knowledge and skills the students of today will need to become effective labour force and successful adults in everyday life. Automation has brought other novelties as well. The tasks within the trades have also changed, which in turn meant a change in the proportion and importance of tasks requiring non-cognitive skills (Schanzenbach 2016, Edin et al. 2017, Fazekas 2017). Autor et al. (2003) examined a 40-year-period (1960–2000) regarding the US labour market to see how the proportion of tasks requiring routine and non-routine physical, cognitive and social skills changed. They found that during that period the proportion of tasks requiring non-routine cognitive and social skills was continuously rising, while the proportion of the routine and non-routine type of physical tasks and tasks requiring routine cognitive skills was continuously decreasing (Fazekas 2017: 8).
The development of students’ non-cognitive skills requires a different type of knowledge and motivation from the teachers. It is important how the teachers activate their students’ imagination, cooperative skills, cultural tolerance, stamina and perseverance. There are more and more initiatives that have an effect on educational methodology in order to improve non-cognitive skills.
Non-cognitive skills can be effectively developed in education with game pedagogy.
In the following, it will be shown how (board) games are used in the Hungarian public
education, and what kind of skills can be developed with their help (either when integrated into the lessons or as after-school activities).
... i. SEL-programi; Social and Emotional Learning), ki se usmerjajo v pridobivanje znanja, veščin in odnos mladih, da razvijejo zdravo identiteto, upravljajo čustva, dosegajo osebne in skupne cilje, čutijo in kažejo empatijo do drugih, vzpostavljajo in vzdržujejo podporne odnose ter se odločajo odgovorno in skrbno (Elias, 1997). Programi kažejo pozitivne učinke na področju socialnih in emocionalnih veščin, odnosa do sebe in drugih, pozitivnih socialnih vedenj, zmanjšanja motečega antisocialnega, agresivnega in delinkventnega vedenja, čustvenega stresa in akademskih dosežkov (Eisenberg idr., 2005;Lösel, Beelman, 2003;Taylor idr., 2017). Med takšne programe spada Botvinov trening življenjskih veščin, ki se osredotoča na preventivo na področju zlorabe drog s pomočjo učenja veščin samouravnavanja (Botvin idr., 1990). ...
... Med takšne programe spada Botvinov trening življenjskih veščin, ki se osredotoča na preventivo na področju zlorabe drog s pomočjo učenja veščin samouravnavanja (Botvin idr., 1990). Tudi preventivni programi, ki vključujejo kognitivno-vedenjske metode, so se v šolskem okolju pokazali za učinkovite (Lösel, Beelman, 2003). ...
... One high quality meta-analysis (Lösel & Beelmann, 2003) revealed that social skills interventions (predominately, but not exclusively, based on behavioral and/or cognitive model of social learning), yielded small to moderate effect sizes on antisocial behavior, with small effects maintained at follow-up. Social skills programs targeting atrisk children were found to be more effective than universal interventions. ...
... However, multiple reviews suggested that children with greater baseline symptom severity tended to benefit more so from interventions, including externalizing (Baumel et al., 2016;de Graaf et al., 2008;Leijten et al., 2020;Riise et al., 2021) and anxiety symptoms (Grist et al., 2019;Howes Vallis et al., 2020). There was also consistent evidence that treatment and selective or indicated prevention interventions yield greater efficacy, compared to universal interventions (2019b; Gardner et al., 2019a;Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Sanchez et al., 2018;Yap et al., 2016). However, there was mixed evidence for other moderators. ...
To determine the efficacy of intervention programs for young children (4–9 years) with emerging mental health needs, we conducted a review of meta-analytic and systematic reviews of the intervention literature. Of 41,061 abstracts identified and 15,076 screened, 152 review articles met the inclusion criteria. We reviewed interventions across multiple disciplines targeting: (1) general mental health concerns; (2) internalizing symptoms; (3) externalizing symptoms; (4) anxiety; (5) depression; (6) trauma; (7) symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and (8) mental health concerns associated with autism spectrum disorder. Substantial evidence was found for the efficacy of behavioral and cognitive behavioral interventions for general mental health concerns, externalizing symptoms (generally, as well as ADHD, conduct, and other behavioral symptoms) and internalizing symptoms (generally, as well as anxiety) aged 4–9 years. Emerging evidence was identified for interventions targeting trauma symptoms, depression symptoms, and social, emotional and behavioral symptoms in autism spectrum disorder in children aged 4–9 years. Currently there is only limited emerging evidence regarding non-behavioral or non-cognitive behavioral interventions for programs targeting children ages 4–9 years where the aim is to deliver an evidence-based program to improve child social, emotional and/or behavioral functioning. Given the recent rises in mental health needs reported in children, targeted behavioral-and/or cognitive behavior therapy-based interventions should be made widely available to children (and their families) who experience elevated symptoms.
... There have been many efforts to prevent delinquency among youth; common strategies include after-school programming, skills training, and youth mentoring (Welsh & Farrington, 2007). Systematic reviews and meta-analyses have found mixed results for these programs, with some indicating no benefit on delinquency (Herrera et al., 2013;Taheri & Welsh, 2016), whereas others have found such programs to have small effects (with effect sizes clustered around .20) on the prevention or reduction of delinquency (Beelmann & Lösel, 2020;Farrington et al., 2017;Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Raposa et al., 2019;Tolan et al., 2013;van der Stouwe et al., 2020). Very few studies demonstrate long-term effects on delinquency (Hawkins et al., 2020), although there are some notable exceptions (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2010;Karcher, 2020;van der Stouwe et al., 2020). ...
... The reviews are consistent, however, in identifying some important delinquency prevention strategies, including social skill and mentoring interventions. Skills training programs for indicated populations that were more intensive, utilized a cognitive behavioral approach, and focused on social competencies were most effective (Beelmann & Lösel, 2020;Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Welsh & Farrington, 2007). Across the meta-analyses of youth mentoring, effects sizes were strongest when (1) programs targeted youth with problems and/or those who had been exposed to substantial environmental risk; (2) mentors were motivated by gaining experience for their professional development, and there was a fit between their experience and the goals of the program; and (3) programs emphasized emotional support and provided structure for mentors to engage in instrumental and advocacy activities with mentees (Christensen et al., 2020;Dubois et al., 2011;Lyons et al., 2019;Raposa et al., 2019;Tolan et al., 2013). ...
Child maltreatment and foster care placement are strong risk factors for delinquency and juvenile justice involvement, and there is substantial crossover between youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This study examines the long-term impact of the Fostering Healthy Futures (FHF) program, a 30-week mentoring and skills group preventive intervention for preadolescent maltreated children in foster care. Participants included 426 children recently placed in out-of-home care who were randomized to intervention or control conditions. Outcomes included both self-reported delinquency, measured at multiple time points between 6 months and 12 years post-intervention, as well as court records of delinquency charges, which were measured for 7 consecutive years beginning 3 months after the intervention began. Results from multilevel models indicated that the intervention group self-reported 30–82% less total and non-violent delinquency than the control group between ages 14 and 18. Court charges for total and violent delinquency in mid-adolescence were also 15–30% lower for the intervention group. These findings indicate that a mentoring and skills training program in preadolescence can reduce delinquency and justice involvement for children who are at high risk for these outcomes.
... Many of these previous reviews are now dated, but overall, those that focused on group designs suggested that social skills interventions were effective in improving social cognitive skills and social emotional behaviors for children with or at risk for emotional and behavioral problems (Ang & Hughes, 2002;Beelmann et al., 1994;Cook et al., 2008;Durlak et al., 1991;Gresham et al., 2004;Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Maag, 2006;Schneider, 1992;Schneider & Byrne, 1985;Vaughn et al., 2003). However, a recurring theme derived from the literature on social skills is that intervention effects tend to be small to moderate in magnitude and often short term, although there can be variability in outcomes depending on the study (Cook et al., 2008;Gresham et al., 2004). ...
Developing social competence for preschoolers is an important area for early intervention, especially for young children with emotional and behavioral issues. This single case meta‐analysis focused on examining the literature base for social skills interventions for preschoolers. A systematic search of the literature yielded 33 single‐case studies on social skills interventions for preschoolers. Results from the aggregated single case studies using a baseline corrected Tau‐U indicated a moderate to large effect (Baseline Corrected Tau = 0.66). Moderator analysis results showed gender and intervention format were statistically significant moderators for the intervention effect. Limitations and directions for future research were discussed within the context of social‐behavioral research and early intervention in preschool settings.
... Interpersonal problems with parents and peers are proposed to relate to the development of extremism, which provides the means to satisfy relational needs and the sense of belonging (Harpviken, 2020). Socialization and development of social skills in children, which enables them to initiate friendships with peers and engage in group activities, is also known to be negatively associated with delinquency and extremism (Harpviken, 2021;Lösel & Beelmann, 2003). ...
We examined the relationship between adolescents' extremist attitudes with a multitude of mental health, well-being, psycho-social, environmental, and lifestyle variables, using state-of-the-art machine learning procedure and nationally representative survey dataset of Norwegian adolescents (N = 11,397). Three key research questions were addressed: 1) can adolescents with extremist attitudes be distinguished from those without, using psycho-socio-environmental survey items, 2) what are the most important predictors of adolescents' extremist attitudes, and 3) whether the identified predictors correspond to specific latent factorial structures? Of the total sample, 17.6% showed elevated levels of extremist attitudes. The prevalence was significantly higher among boys and younger adolescents than girls and older adolescents, respectively. The machine learning model reached an AUC of 76.7%, with an equal sensitivity and specificity of 70.5% in the test dataset, demonstrating a satisfactory performance for the model. Items reflecting on positive parenting, quality of relationships with parents and peers, externalizing behavior, and well-being emerged as significant predictors of extremism. Exploratory factor analysis partially supported the suggested latent clusters. Out of the 550 psycho-socio-environmental variables analyzed, behavioral problems, individual and social well-being, along with basic needs such as a secure family environment and interpersonal relationships with parents and peers emerged as significant factors contributing to susceptibility to extremism among adolescents.
... Both seemed too big a burden on schools and training companies for the first trial to integrate more SEC contents into the formal training programme of MAs. Even though research findings indicate that fostering SEC is more successful in longer trainings with diverse methods (Beelmann and Lösel 2006;Lösel and Beelmann 2003), SECOTrain is therefore designed as webbased individual learning modules and reduces the time of training as much as possible. The possibility of independently processing the training, regardless of time and teacher, allows a wider audience to be reached in a more efficient way. ...
This paper describes a digital training for social and emotional competences for prospective medical assistants (MAs) in Germany. Social and emotional competences (SEC) are necessary for the collaboration with colleagues as well as for the contact with clients, patients or customers. The German dual system of vocational education and training (VET) therefore considers them as essential parts of the profile of most training occupations. Nevertheless, few materials exist so far for the systematic training of these competences. In former studies three social and emotional competences have been identified as essential for MAs: emotion regulation, perspective coordination and communication strategies. At the same time development needs have been identified for all of them. To address these needs the three hours online training programme SECOTrain (Social and Emotional Competence Training) has been developed, which offers separate training sessions for all three competences. The aim of the paper is to depict how the fostering of social and emotional competences can be approached via a digital training, report our experiences with this endeavour and to discuss associated advantages as well as challenges and ways to deal with them. Digital formats offer new possibilities and chances for education and training, as they facilitate access to the content in a standardized and efficient way. An independent processing of trainings is made possible, regardless of time and teacher. At the same time, this comes along with a risk of overstraining some learners, as problems of understanding or motivation may occur. SECOTrain transfers pedagogical ideas into the context of digital learning to reduce these risks as much as possible. Each of the three training sessions follows the principles of the Cognitive Apprenticeship approach and is inspired by existing theories and trainings. Video sequences of typical critical interaction situations serve as material for explanation, application and reflection to support a strong practical orientation. Effects of the training will be evaluated in a pretest–posttest-follow-up experimental design. The paper presents goals and content as well as methods, pedagogical principles and theoretical foundation of SECOTrain. Furthermore, results of a small pilot study are presented and discussed with regard to further adjusting the training to the needs of the target group. At the end, an outline of the planned evaluation is given.
... However, despite the overall positive results found in the literature, in order to enhance the benefits resulting from these programs, there are certain conditions that should be ensured, namely regarding the group size (the smaller the group, the greater the effectiveness of the program); the program integrity (the program effectiveness is enhanced when it is implemented by its creators or by a team of highly trained implementers); the implementation strategies (better results have been observed for interventions including cognitive-behavioral techniques); and the participant's level of risk/needs (with greater effectiveness found for programs that intervene in children who present high levels of risk; Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Lösel & Bender, 2012). ...
Using an experimental design and a multi-measure and multi-informant approach, the current study sought to evaluate the impact of the early developmental prevention program "ZARPAR"-an intervention designed as a social and cognitive skills training program, that seeks to promote children's behavioral adjustment. A sample of elementary school children (experimental group n = 37; control group n = 66), attending Portuguese schools, was assessed before and 6 months after the intervention on the program's key-dimensions: behavioral problems, social skills, and executive functioning. Based on parent and teacher reports, the results largely suggested that the intervention had no effect or, for some dimensions, even the existence of negative outcomes. Possible reasons for these results are discussed. The current study highlights that, despite the overwhelmingly positive message about developmental prevention programs, not all interventions work, thus reinforcing the need for rigorous evaluations, in order to enhance the success of future interventions.
... As these results indicate, fostering social-emotional skills and competences such as perspective-taking and problem-solving strategies by expanding emotional awareness and knowledge has many long-term benefits (e.g., educational equity) and exceeds merely preventing negative child developmental outcomes (Durlak et al., 2011;Ura et al., 2020). A systematic review by Lösel and Beelmann (2003), considering trainings of social skills in order to prevent antisocial behavior in German studies, revealed an average effect size of d = 0.38 (post measurement) and d = 0.28 (follow-up measurement), indicating a small but robust overall effectiveness of social skill training for children. Although many preventive intervention programs including SEL measures are implemented in the school environment, there is still a lack of evidencebased approaches providing a transparent and systematic overview of the program development as well as an evaluation design with high replicability. ...
Children face increased demands for interpersonal as well as learning-related social skills, especially by the vulnerable stage of school entry, due to the more structured setting, new academic requirements, and the fact that children are supposed to interact successfully within a larger and heterogeneous peer group. Although a plethora of social-emotional learning (SEL) programs for elementary school students have been developed, there is a lack of empirically evaluated programs suitable for implementation in field-based settings, especially in Germany. The universal-selective, school-based prevention program Papilio-6to9 aims at facilitating the transition from preschool to elementary school, improving social-emotional competences, and preventing behavior and emotional problems. As a universal-selective prevention program, Papilio-6to9 includes all children in elementary school classes regardless of risk factors (universal prevention) whereby also children with risk factors are targeted without being stigmatised (selective prevention). The program targets elementary school children aged about six to nine and their teachers who receive a three-day training followed by two collegial supervisions to implement the program in and during regular school classes. Papilio-6to9 is part of an approach combining findings from developmentally appropriate practice, positive psychology, social-emotional learning, and developmentally appropriate prevention, and aligns with the early childhood education and care (ECEC)
... In summarizing this work, meta-analyses suggest that social skills training improves social skill (Lӧsel & Beelmann, 2003), but that these effects are often modest (Magee Quinn et al., 1999). Interventions that focus on teaching a single skill (e.g., peer group entry) tend to be less effective than multimodal interventions, especially when children mature into more complex developmental stages (Beelmann, Pfingsten, & Lӧsel, 1994). ...
Social connectedness has been linked to beneficial outcomes across domains, ages, and cultures. However, not everyone receives these benefits, as there are large individual differences in the capacities required to create and sustain functional interpersonal relationships. A great deal of research has been devoted to assessing and understanding these differences, often focusing on how competent interpersonal behavior renders it more likely that one will succeed interpersonally. The current paper examines five relevant approaches that have emerged from personality (global traits), social (social cognition), clinical (social skills interventions), developmental (social information processing), and industrial/organizational (situation judgment) areas of psychology. A comparison of these approaches highlights important considerations related to bandwidth and fidelity, whether the focus should be on overt behavior or underlying processes, and whether to emphasize tendencies or their effectiveness. The review concludes with calls for greater integration efforts, which can capitalize on strengths inherent to different approaches.
... Offenders are more likely than their non-offending peers, or, indeed, their peers with other offending trajectories, to fail to do productive work and impose long-term costs on the health and welfare services (Farrington et al., 2006). Additionally, the findings of this Chapter, in relation to organic illness and hospitalization, suggest that addressing the predictors of chronic offending, by reducing childhood risk factors (McGee & Farrington, 2010;Piquero et al., 2012), for example, through nurse-family partnerships and child skills-training programmes, which are both known to be effective, may contribute to improving health in middle-aged men as well as reducing long-term offending (Craig, Piquero, Farrington & Ttofi, 2017;Losel & Beelman, 2003;Piquero, Farrington, Welsh, Tremblay & Jennings, 2009). This Chapter's findings also highlight the importance of preventing individuals from commencing offending at a later age, due to the increased likelihood of injury and possible disability . ...
Longitudinal investigations of associations between offending and health are rare. Studies which have investigated this relationship principally focus on mental health within samples of incarcerated offenders. Therefore, the physical health of offenders outside secure settings, henceforth ‘community offenders’, form an under-researched and potentially vulnerable group. To address the limited knowledge on the relationship between community offenders and health, this thesis utilised access to a unique prospective longitudinal study, The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), and conducted two global systematic reviews and meta-analyses. This aim of this thesis is to use these data sources to longitudinally, systematically, and meta-analytically investigate to what extent community offenders have poorer physical health across the life-course and die prematurely compared to non-offenders. Chapter 1 provides an introduction together with a comprehensive review of the current evidence and theorizations behind the health-crime relationship. This highlights the limitations and gaps in the literature to date and sets out how this thesis seeks to contribute to this debate. Within Chapter 2, the first central focus, in contrast to the conviction and risk factor analyses previously performed, is on temporary versus persistently antisocial persons, based on three offending trajectories (see: Moffitt, 1993; Jolliffe, Farrington, Piquero, McLeod, & Van de Weijer, 2017b): Life-Course-Persistent, Adolescence-Limited, and Late-Onset offenders. These three typologies constitute qualitatively distinct types of person and their different offending pathways may bear differential risks for adult health. By using data from the CSDD, the new approach in this thesis investigates the longitudinal impact of criminal behaviour on physical health problems in self-reports and General Practitioner (GP) data by testing the following hypothesis: individuals who commit offences earlier in their lives and have prolonged criminal careers will suffer from greater physical health problems than individuals who have short criminal careers. These early onset individuals, it is further hypothesised, will also have greater odds of injury and hospitalization than Late-Onset offenders, who in turn will have greater odds than Non-offenders. These CSDD longitudinal analyses found that, when considering organic illnesses (respiratory tract, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, skin, allergic, gastrointestinal and infectious illnesses) and hospitalizations (the number of hospital visits), the impact of offending on health becomes more serious if offending persists beyond adolescence. The second focus of Chapter 2 was to conduct further analyses investigating the relationship between psychosocial risk factors at age 8-10, antisocial personality (ASP) at ages 18, 32 and 48, and poor physical health (based on self-reports and GP records). These analyses found that high ASP scores at ages 18, 32 and 48 were related to a high prevalence of hospitalization. They also found that, according to GP records, high ASP scores at age 32 were related to poor physical health, and high ASP scores at age 48 were related to more mental illness and disabling medical conditions. These three CSDD analyses also highlight age-specific health implications related to the ages at which offenders begin and end their delinquent behaviour. Unfortunately, these findings could not be supplemented through a systematic review and meta-analysis, due to the paucity of existing studies. The worst consequence of poor physical health is premature mortality, so this element of the health-crime relationship was subsequently investigated in Chapter 3. In Chapter 3, a systematic review and meta-analysis sought to establish whether community offenders die prematurely compared to non-offender community and population comparison samples. Thirty-six studies met the inclusion criteria (N= 1,116,614). Premature mortality is a significant issue for non-incarcerated offenders in general (OR= 3.42), and for ex-prisoners in particular (OR= 4.51). Offenders were more likely to die from unnatural violent causes (OR= 3.97) and natural causes (OR= 2.06) than non-offenders, with a meta-regression revealing that time at risk was not a significant factor (z= -0.01, p= 0.12). These results suggest that the rates of premature mortality previously found for offenders do not just reflect the impact of mental illness on these individuals, but rather that offending and its correlates may have a significant physiological impact on the body. Suicide was of particular interest when considering the causes of premature mortality in community offenders, one of the most prominent causes of death in offenders (Fazel, Benning, & Danesh, 2005) and males globally (WHO, 2018). A further systematic and review and meta-analysis was therefore conducted to investigate this significant element of the health-crime relationship. In Chapter 4, a second systematic review and meta-analysis sought to establish whether community offenders were more likely to commit suicide compared with community and general population comparison groups. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria (N= 602,347) and highlight that non-incarcerated offenders are significantly more likely to commit suicide compared with non-offenders (OR= 4.54), with time at risk being a non-significant factor. Ex-prisoners had a high likelihood of suicide (OR= 4.18), but not as high as offenders who had not been incarcerated (OR= 7.62). Chapter 5 presents limitations concerning the studies conducted in Chapters 2, 3 and 4, in addition to providing recommendations for future research. Although this thesis could not provide directional or causal conclusions, Chapter 6 argues that the evidence provided suggests that the antisocial lifestyles that offenders lead when out of secure environments pose a significant risk to physical health. It is likely that the antisocial lifestyle of offenders causes processes which damage their health over time, and several criminological, epidemiological and medical theories are discussed to explain these links. Overall, community offenders form a vulnerable group who require targeted interventions to reduce the incidence of poor physical health, mortality and suicide across the lifespan. Yet, the prior research and literature reviewed within this thesis demonstrates that community offenders form an under-researched group, with methodologically limited research conducted to date. Until there is further understanding of the health-crime relationship, the nature of these interventions remains impossible to comment upon. Future directions for new research are discussed which aim to produce further robust evidence on the relationship between community offenders and poor health, together with the differences between individual prospective longitudinal work and population level meta-analytic findings. These approaches should seek to establish causality and directionality of relationships and inform the design of future interventions. The findings of this thesis, with respect to the health-crime relationship, should be viewed as a future public health challenge and continue to inform the evidence from which targeted interventions can be developed, with the aspiration of improving the health and life chances of community-based offenders.
... Still, there are at least three concerns that prevent the overgeneralization of these positive results. First, prior meta-analyses show significant heterogeneity in the effect sizes; larger studies report a smaller effect size [23]. Programs introduced in education are particularly prone to a negative correlation between sample size and effect size [32]. ...
Motivated by the self-determination theory of psychology, we investigate how simple school practices can forge students’ engagement with the academic aspect of school life. We carried out a large-scale preregistered randomized field experiment with a crossover design, involving all the students of the University of Szeged in Hungary. Our intervention consisted of an automated encouragement message that praised students’ past achievements and signaled trust in their success. The treated students received encouragement messages before their exam via two channels: e-mail and SMS message. The control students did not receive any encouragement. Our primary analysis compared the treated and control students’ end-of-semester exam grades, obtained from the university’s registry. Our secondary analysis explored the difference between the treated and control students’ self-efficacy, motivation, and test anxiety, obtained from an online survey before students’ exams. We did not find an average treatment effect on students’ exam grades. However, in the subsample of those who answered the endline survey, the treated students reported higher self-efficacy than the control students. The treatment affected students’ motivation before their first exam—but not before their second—and did not affect students’ test anxiety. Our results indicate that automated encouragement messages sent shortly before exams do not boost students’ exam grades, but they do increase self-efficacy. These results contribute to understanding the self-efficacy mechanism through which future encouragement campaigns might exert their effect. We conclude that encouraging students and raising their self-efficacy might create a school climate that better engages students with the academic aspect of school life.
... No entanto, existem algumas considerações que não devem ser esquecidas para que a eficácia deste tipo de programas seja potenciada, nomeadamente: a dimensão do grupo de crianças (quanto menor for o grupo maior é a eficácia do programa); a fidelidade ao programa original (a eficácia do programa é potenciada se este for aplicado pelos seus autores ou por técnicos bastante conhecedores do mesmo); os métodos de aplicação (tem-se verificado resultados mais positivos em programas que utilizam técnicas cognitivo-comportamentais), os níveis de risco/necessidades que as crianças apresentam (verificando-se maior eficácia nos programas que intervém em crianças que apresentam elevados níveis de risco); e a idade destas (mais eficazes quando aplicados por volta dos 12 anos; Lösel & Beelmann, 2003;Lösel & Bender, 2012). ...
... Así, el aprendizaje socioemocional se ha relacionado positivamente con el éxito académico (McCormack et al., 2014;Durlak et al., 2011) y con el fomento de mecanismos de ajuste personal positivo (Weissberg et al., 2003). También, y de forma negativa, el aprendizaje socioemocional se ha relacionado con la conducta agresiva (Lösel & Beelman, 2003;Wilson & Lipsey, 2007) y con otros problemas de comportamiento, como el abandono precipitado de la escuela, la delincuencia y el consumo de sustancias (Wilson et al., 2001). El comportamiento agresivo está conectado con la falta de control emocional (Eisenberg & Sulik, 2012). ...
In the context of inclusive schools, social-emotional learning encourages student involvement in classroom life and is related to a decrease in maladaptive behaviour. The objective of this study is to analyse the impact of a social -emotional education program on aggressiveness and emotional instability in childhood. Participants were 555 children aged 7 to 12 years (M=9.2 and SD=1.5), 55.5% boys and 45.5% girls. The children were students of primary education at six public schools in Valencia (Spain). The sample was distributed into an experimental group (317 children; 57.2% of the total participating population) and a control group (238 children). The teachers of the experimental group received training to implement the program in class. The teachers of the control group received no training and did not apply the program. The results in the pre-test and posttest phases in both groups are analysed. In the pretest phase, significant differences appeared between the groups: the experimental group showed higher levels of aggressiveness and emotional instability than the control group. In the post-test phase, aggressiveness and emotional instability decreased significantly in the experimental group (medium-high effect size), whilst aggressiveness and emotional instability increased in the control
group. The effects of the program on the students are discussed further.
Keywords
Inclusion, social-emotional learning, aggressiveness, emotional instability, childhood, primary education.
Sosial kompetanse er ferdigheter, kunnskap og holdninger i kontakt og samhandling med andre
Objective:
Clinically impairing irritability and temper outbursts are among the most common psychiatric problems in youth and present transdiagnostically; however, few mechanistically informed treatments have been developed. Here, we test the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of a novel exposure-based treatment with integrated parent management skills for youth with severe irritability using a randomized between-subjects multiple baseline design.
Method:
N = 41 patients (Age, Mean (SD) = 11.23 years (1.85), 62.5% male, 77.5% white) characterized by severe and impairing temper outbursts and irritability were randomized to different baseline observation durations (2, 4, or 6 weeks) prior to active treatment; 40 participants completed the 12 session treatment of exposure-based cognitive-behavioral therapy for irritability with integrated parent management skills. Masked clinician ratings were acquired throughout baseline and treatment phases, as well as 3- and 6-months post-treatment. To examine acceptability and feasibility, drop-out rates and adverse events were examined. Primary clinical outcome measures included clinician-administered measures of irritability severity and improvement. Secondary clinical outcome measures included multi-informant measures of irritability, depression, anxiety, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms.
Results:
No patients dropped out once treatment began, and no adverse events were reported. Irritability symptoms improved during the active phase of treatment across all measurements (all βs > -0.04, ps < .011, Cohen's d range: -0.33 to -0.98). Treatment gains were maintained at follow-up (all βs(39) < -0.001, ps > .400). Sixty-five percent of patients were considered significantly improved or recovered post-treatment based on the primary clinician-rated outcome measure.
Conclusions:
Results support acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy of this novel treatment for youth with severe irritability. Limitations and future directions are also discussed.
We extended research on social skills training to determine if the activities first‐grade students were engaged in while Tootling would influence their performance of two recently trained social skills: complimenting and encouraging peers. After receiving social skills training, students engaged in two experimental small‐group activities, a cooperative activity and a parallel‐play activity. During both activities, a Tootling intervention was applied and interdependent group rewards (e.g., every student in the class receives the reward) were delivered contingent upon the number of peer reports of classmates providing compliments and encouragements meeting an unknown, randomly selected criterion. Students also engaged in their typical classroom activity, an individual competition, without Tootling. Statistical analysis indicated that during the cooperative‐play activity there were significantly higher levels of complimenting and encouraging than during the parallel‐play and individual competition activities. More compliments were delivered during the parallel‐play activity than during the individual competition, but there was no significant difference in encouragements across the two conditions. Also, during the parallel‐play activity, compliments where higher than encouragements. These findings suggest that after social skills training, Tootling can enhance social skill performance when educators schedule activities that provide opportunities to engage in these recently trained skills. Discussion focuses on task and goal structures associated with activities and applied implications for enhancing social skill development.
Small group social skills training (SST) is recommended to improve the social behavior and peer relations of rejected children, but child responses vary. This study explored variation in intervention experiences that emerged in a large study of a school‐based SST program for peer‐rejected children and associations with program outcomes. One hundred and seven peer‐rejected elementary students (60% White, 15% Black, 22% Latinx, 3% Multi‐racial, and 65% male) were identified by classroom sociometrics and randomly assigned to a year‐long small group SST program. Normative classmates served as partners. Among the peer‐rejected targets of the intervention, those with relatively better pretreatment social skills received more SST sessions and were more positively engaged, whereas those with fewer social skills and more behavior problems experienced more negative peer responses during SST sessions and less collateral support from teachers and parents. Hierarchical regressions (controlling for pretreatment scores) revealed attenuated intervention benefits for children who received more negative peer responses during SST and less parent and teacher support. The findings suggest that, within a sample of peer‐rejected children, those with more severe skill deficits and elevated behavior problems at pretreatment have lower‐quality SST experiences that reduce intervention benefits, even when normative classmates serve as peer partners. These issues warrant careful attention in future SST intervention design and research. In a sample of peer‐rejected children, those with better pretreatment social skills were more positively engaged in small group social skills training. In a sample of peer‐rejected children, those with better pretreatment social skills were more positively engaged in small group social skills training. Among the peer‐rejected children receiving social skills training, those with fewer social skills and more behavior problems at baseline experienced more negative peer responses and less teacher and parent collateral support during intervention. Among the peer‐rejected children receiving social skills training, those with fewer social skills and more behavior problems at baseline experienced more negative peer responses and less teacher and parent collateral support during intervention. Peer‐rejected children with more severe social skills deficits and behavior problems are at risk for lower quality social skills training experiences and need additional supports to avoid reduced therapeutic benefits. Peer‐rejected children with more severe social skills deficits and behavior problems are at risk for lower quality social skills training experiences and need additional supports to avoid reduced therapeutic benefits.
While the exact role of schools is somewhat contested, most would agree that they should be safe environments where teachers can help to facilitate the healthy development of young people. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that problem and criminal behaviour is an issue in a significant number of schools in the UK and around the world. Criminology may have a role to play in helping schools prevent crime on campus and allowing schools to contribute to broader crime prevention. To do this, criminologists will need to help identify the causes of criminal and problem behaviour in schools, how schools develop crime and rule-breaking relevant traits, and the role schools play in shaping the development of their pupil’s crime relevant traits. This thesis aims to contribute to this project by applying the theoretical lens of SAT to the school setting and specifying the mechanisms through which criminal and problem behaviour are caused in their correct positions in the causal chain. Two sets of hypotheses have been developed and tested with analytical methods demonstrating that pupils with high crime propensity who perceive a weak moral context engage in criminal and problem behaviour at the highest rates; and that pupils who experience effective behaviour management and who perceive their parents will support the school in dealing with behaviour perceive stronger school moral contexts. Findings from tests of these hypotheses make an important contribution to the criminological knowledge base, particularly those concerning the role of individuals perceptions of their environment and offending and those concerning the factors that may influence individual perceptions of their school environment.
There are signs that the potential of developing skills to address child or family based concerns is not being realised. In this paper, we critically analyse work with children and families to (1) identify skills development as an under-theorised component of practice, (2) define skills development as a specific aim and form of practice, (3) outline a new social-systemic model of skills development, and (4) propose a new approach for practice that we call collaborative skills development (CSD). The paper details an action research project we set up that embedded this approach as the foundation for a new service that sought to help children in, or on the edge of, state care within an established UK based organisation. We then present an evaluation of this project to analyse how this model of working helped and how and what we can learn about the theory of CSD. These findings support the theory and practice of CSD as a new way of thinking about and working with children and families.
While social skills training allows students to acquire social skills, often it does not enhance their performance of those skills outside the social skills training context. A withdrawal design was used to determine if a modified Tootling intervention could enhance at-risk, first-grade students’ performance of two recently trained social skills (complimenting and encouraging) as they played. Following social skills training, baseline data was collected as students played a modified Jenga game in small groups. During the intervention phase, a Tootling intervention was added and the class earned a group reward contingent upon their reports of peers engaging in these recently trained social skills. After Tootling was withdrawn, it was reinstated. Analysis of class-wide data shows immediate and large (effect size estimates) increases in compliments and encouragements each time Tootling was applied, and an immediate decrease when Tootling was withdrawn. These findings suggest that the modified Tootling intervention enhanced performance of these social skills while students played. Discussion focuses on future research designed to determine if Tootling can cause meaningful increases in social skill development by increasing students’ performance of social skills across social contexts.
Impact Statement
Social skills training allows students to acquire social skills, but typically does not result in students performing these behaviors in other social contexts. A peer-mediated intervention known as Tootling, which involves students being reinforced for reporting classmates’ performance of recently trained social skills (i.e., providing encouragements and compliments), caused large and immediate increases in first-grade students’ performance of these prosocial behaviors as they engaged in a small-group game.
Objective
To evaluate the benefits of the Fast Track Friendship Group program implemented as a stand-alone school-based intervention on the social cognitions, social behavior, peer and teacher relationships of peer-rejected students.
Method
Over four successive years, 224 peer-rejected elementary students (57% White, 17% Black, 20% Latinx, 5% multiracial; 68% male; grades 1–4; Mage = 8.1 years old) were identified using peer sociometric nominations and randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 110) or a treatment-as-usual control group (n = 114). Four school districts serving economically-disadvantaged urban and rural communities participated. Intervention involved weekly small group social skills training with classmate partners, with sessions tailored to address individual child needs. Consultation meetings held at the start and mid-point of intervention were designed to help teachers and parents support the generalization of targeted skills.
Results
Multi-level linear models, with children nested within schools (controlling for demographics and baseline scores) documented improvements in social-cognitive skills (direct assessments of emotion recognition and competent social problem-solving), social behavior (teacher ratings of social skills and externalizing behavior), and interpersonal relationships (peer sociometric nominations of peer acceptance and friendships, teacher-rated student-teacher closeness). Significant effects were generally small (ds = .19–.36) but consistent across child sex, grade level, and behavioral characteristics.
Conclusions
The intervention proved feasible for high-fidelity implementation in school settings and produced significant improvements in the social adjustment of peer-rejected children, validating the approach as a school-based Tier 2 intervention.
Обсуждается проблема социального и эмоционального развития школьников в контексте об-разовательных систем. На основе анализа имеющегося теоретического аппарата описания этой стороны образовательного процесса дается обоснование того, почему именно понятие «социально-эмоциональные навыки» (в отличие от эмоционального интеллекта, soft skills и других распространенных терминов) наилучшим образом отражает специфику некогнитивного развития в контексте системы образования. Предлагается новая теоретическая модель оценки социально-эмоциональных навыков (достижение целей, работа с другими, управление эмоциями), основанная на модели Большой пятерки и учитывающая контекст развития учащегося в рамках образовательных систем. Эта модель является основой для разработки инструментов измерения и оценки социальных и эмоциональных навыков в начальной и основной школе. Показано соответствие предлагаемой модели федеральных государственных образовательных стандартов начальной школы в части формируемых личностных образовательных результатов учащихся.
A withdrawal design was used to evaluate the effects of a tootling intervention targeting a specific, recently trained social skill, providing compliments, displayed by first-grade students while they engaged in a regularly scheduled, small-group math activity. The tootling intervention, called the Catching Compliments Game, included publicly posted feedback and an interdependent group-oriented contingency, which involved the entire class earning rewards for reporting their observations of classmates providing compliments. Visual analysis of a repeated-measures graph suggested that the intervention caused immediate increases in students’ complimenting peers while engaged in a small-group math activity. These results extend research on tootling interventions by providing evidence that they can cause increases in the behaviors that students are reporting, in this case, students complimenting peers. Discussion focuses on study limitations, future research, and the applied implications associated with supplementing social skills training with tootling.
Social Emotional Learning is a core competency in the coming future as mankind has created and invented a gadget, device or an app for almost most of technical and knowledge-based needs. Especially during the pandemic, the need for SEL programs becomes a necessity. The important process then remains to create individuals with sensitivity to navigate in such endowed systems, without feeling too powerful or at the polar end without feeling disconnected. It is undeniable society at large will be living with this sense of having the world at their fingertips! It is exactly because of this reason that it is necessary to be socially emotionally adjusted to co-exist with many such equally gifted or talented people around oneself. At the same time the children are exposed to the fast-paced world and ever demanding need to excel and perform better academically. The Brain Training Enhancement Program (“BTE”) is a scientifically designed well researched program using Neurofeedback to improve the brain ability of students in competitive exams. The A pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design was used to test the impact of a 10-week, online-based social and emotional learning (SEL) intervention, Brain Training Enhancement Program (“BTE”), on the academic performance and social and emotional competence of 12th grade students (N =82) in two classrooms in one school. Academic performance was assessed by report card grades done in the immediate past and immediately post intervention. Social and emotional competence was assessed with Psychometric Analysis and QEEG Measurements. Students in classrooms integrating BTE program had higher year-end grades and higher scores of social and emotional competences (e.g., Engagement, Self-Regulation, and Focus) compared to students in the comparison group. This study provides preliminary empirical evidence that SEL programs like BTE improve important student outcomes.
El programa diseñado para probar su impacto en la promoción de la conducta prosocial, como estrategia de prevención de la conducta antisocial fue implementado en una escuela de nivel secundaria de la ciudad de Hermosillo Sonora. A este plantel asisten jóvenes de cinco colonias populares. El programa tuvo logros significativos al obtener cambios en la conducta de chicos y chicas con serios problemas de comportamiento. Se trabajó con alumnos que fueron turnados por los orientadores escolares. El programa tuvo una duración de 80 horas aula, utilizando técnicas interactivas y de refuerzo positivo al cambio. El programa se realiza con recursos del gobierno federal, como parte de un proyecto dirigido a potenciar habilidades para la solución de conflictos de convivencia familiar y comunitaria. Entre sus objetivos, buscó ensayar el contenido del mismo para favorecer su mejor implementación.
Im Beitrag wird eine Übersicht zur Systematik, zu Methoden, Zielen, Potenzialen und Grenzen systematischer Reviews und Meta-Analysen gegeben. Einleitend werden die Methodik im Rahmen von fünf Forschungsphasen und wichtige Arbeitsschritte erläutert. Im Anschluss erfolgt eine Erörterung zentraler Ziele und Potenziale, indem der Mehrwert gegenüber Einzeluntersuchungen und empirischen Primärstudien herausgestellt wird. Dabei geht es u. a. um die Potenziale, empirische Evidenzen umfassender und valider abzubilden, wissenschaftliche Artefakte und forschungsmethodische Einflüsse besser kontrollieren zu können sowie den Transfer von wissenschaftlichen Produkten in Praxis, Gesellschaft und Politik zu befördern. Zudem werden mögliche Probleme und Grenzen von Forschungssynthesen wie etwa Publikationsverzerrungen, Konfundierungen von bedeutsamen Ergebnismoderatoren oder die Rolle der forschungsmethodischen Qualität bei der Selektion von Primärstudien diskutiert. Es folgt ein abschließender Abschnitt zu Qualitätskriterien systematischer Reviews.
Aggressive behaviour of students with SEN is a real challenge for teachers who follow the principles of inclusive education. A superficial judgement of such incidents by the society is easily disseminated, and weakens the teacher’s sense of competence and professional prestige. This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of teachers’ statements regarding their effective and ineffective ad hoc interventions conducted against outbreaks of impulsive aggression of students with SEN.
This book describes the lives of 12 people born in Europe and North America during the Second World War. They became leading scholars on the development and prevention of violent human behavior. From the first to the last page, the book introduces contrasting life-stories and shows how their paths crossed to create a relatively unified body of knowledge on how human violence develops and possible prevention methods. The authors describe the similarities and differences in their family background, university training, theories, and collaborations. Not to mention how they differ in research methods, scientific conclusions, and their influence on the research published today. These comparisons celebrates the diversity of their experience and, in turn, their achievements. By knowing this, you can stand on the shoulders of these giants to look to the future of this subject and potentially contribute to its next steps.
Families of 97 children with early-onset conduct problems, 4 to 8 years old, were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: a parent training treatment group (PT), a child training group (CT), a combined child and parent training group (CT + PT), or a waiting-list control group (CON). Posttreatment assessments indicated that all 3 treatment conditions had resulted in significant improvements in comparison with controls. Comparisons of the 3 treatment conditions indicated that CT and CT + PT children showed significant improvements in problem solving as well as conflict management skills, as measured by observations of their interactions with a best friend; differences among treatment conditions on these measures consistently favored the CT condition over the PT condition. As for parent and child behavior at home, PT and CT + PT parents and children had significantly more positive interactions, compared with CT parents and children. One-year follow-up assessments indicated that all the significant changes noted immediately posttreatment had been maintained over time. Moreover, child conduct problems at home had significantly lessened over time. Analyses of the clinical significance of the results suggested that the combined CT + PT condition produced the most significant improvements in child behavior at 1-year follow-up.
Antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence is an unquestionably serious problem for society. Family-based treatments are promising but face the challenging obstacle of premature parental dropout. To systematically study dropout, we randomly assigned 147 families with a markedly aggressive child (age 4 to 9 years) to a standard family treatment (SFT) focusing exclusively on parental management or to an enhanced family treatment (EFT) that also promoted frequent discussions of adult issues. EFT produced a significantly lower dropout rate than SFT overall, but particularly for high-adversity families. Dropouts were clearly distinguishable from completers on several dimensions. The results underscore the importance of addressing contextual variables such as family adversity in the treatment of childhood antisocial behavior.
Conventional reviews of research on the efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatments often find considerable variation in outcome among studies and, as a consequence, fail to reach firm conclusions about the overall effectiveness of the interventions in question. In contrast meta-analytic reviews show a strong, dramatic pattern of positive overall effects that cannot readily be explained as artifacts of meta-analytic technique or generalized placebo effects. Moreover, the effects are not so small that they can be dismissed as lacking practical or clinical significance. Although meta-analysis has limitations, there are good reasons to believe that its results are more credible than those of conventional reviews and to conclude that well-developed psychological, educational, and behavioral treatment is generally efficacious.
This study evaluated the effects of problem-solving skills training (PSST) and parent management training (PMT) on children (N = 97, ages 7–13 years) referred for severe antisocial behavior. Children and families were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 conditions: PSST, PMT, or PSST and PMT combined. It was predicted that (a) each treatment would improve child functioning (reduce overall deviance and aggressive, antisocial, and delinquent behavior, and increase prosocial competence); and (b) PSST and PMT combined would lead to more marked, pervasive, and durable changes in child functioning and greater changes in parent functioning (parental stress, depression, and overall symptoms). Expectations were supported by results at posttreatment and 1-year follow-up. PSST and PMT combined led to more marked changes in child and parent functioning and placed a greater proportion of youth within the range of nonclinic (normative) levels of functioning.
Evaluated the outcomes of 130 indicated preventive interventions (secondary prevention) mental health programs for children and adolescents that seek to identify early signs of maladjustment and to intervene before full‐blown disorders develop. Results indicate such programs significantly reduce problems and significantly increase competencies. In particular, behavioral and cognitive‐behavior programs for children with subclinical disorders (mean ESs in the 0.50s) appear as effective as psychotherapy for children with established problems and more effective than attempts to prevent adolescent smoking, alcohol use, and delinquency. In practical terms, the average participant receiving behavioral or cognitive‐behavior intervention surpasses the performance of approximately 70% of those in a control group. Of particular interest was the high mean effect (0.72) achieved by programs targeting incipient externalizing problems which are customarily the least amenable to change via traditional psychotherapeutic efforts when they reach clinical levels. Priorities for future research include greater specification of intervention procedures, assessment of treatment implementation, more follow‐up studies, and identifying how different participants respond to early intervention.
Used meta‐analysis to review 177 primary prevention programs designed to prevent behavioral and social problems in children and adolescents. Findings provide empirical support for further research and practice in primary prevention. Most categories of programs produced outcomes similar to or higher in magnitude than those obtained by many other established preventive and treatment interventions in the social sciences and medicine. Programs modifying the school environment, individually focused mental health promotion efforts, and attempts to help children negotiate stressful transitions yield significant mean effects ranging from 0.24 to 0.93. In practical terms, the average participant in a primary prevention program surpasses the performance of between 59% to 82% of those in a control group, and outcomes reflect an 8% to 46% difference in success rates favoring prevention groups. Most categories of programs had the dual benefit of significantly reducing problems and significantly increasing competencies. Priorities for future research include clearer specification of intervention procedures and program goals, assessment of program implementation, more follow‐up studies, and determining how characteristics of the intervention and participants relate to different outcomes.
Evaluated the outcomes of 130 indicated preventive interventions (secondary prevention) mental health programs for children and adolescents that seek to identify early signs of maladjustment and to intervene before full-blown disorders develop. Results indicate such programs significantly reduce problems and significantly increase competencies. In particular, behavioral and cognitive-behavior programs for children with subclinical disorders (mean ESs in the 0.50s) appear as effective as psychotherapy for children with established problems and more effective than attempts to prevent adolescent smoking, alcohol use, and delinquency. In practical terms, the average participant receiving behavioral or cognitive-behavior intervention surpasses the performance of approximately 70% of those in a control group. Of particular interest was the high mean effect (0.72) achieved by programs targeting incipient externalizing problems which are customarily the least amenable to change via traditional psychotherapeutic efforts when they reach clinical levels. Priorities for future research include greater specification of intervention procedures, assessment of treatment implementation, more follow-up studies, and identifying how different participants respond to early intervention.
This paper presents the results of two studies designed to investigate the effects of short-term group social skills training on a population of socially withdrawn elementary school children. The skill training programs of six to eight hourly sessions did not have a significantly greater impact on socially withdrawn children than did comparison training programs designed to control for the effects of group interaction or a wait-listed no-treatment group. The authors discuss the results of both studies and offer suggestions for improving the quality of the program and the design of future studies.
Interest in randomized experiments with criminal justice subjects has grown, in recognition that experiments are much better suited for identifying and isolating program effects than are quasi-experimental or nonexperimental research designs. Relatively little attention, however, has been paid to methodological issues. Using the statistical concept of power-the likelihood that a test will lead to the rejection of a hypothesis of no effect, a survey examines the design sensitivity of experiments on sanctions. Contrary to conventional wisdom advocating large sample designs, little relationship is found in practice between sample size and statistical power. Difficulty in maintaining the integrity of treatments and the homogeneity of samples or treatments employed offsets the design advantages of larger investigations.
This study examined the effects of a friendly and cooperative game program on child development in children ages 6 and 7. A pretest/intervention/posttest design was used with a sample of 125 experimental and 53 control subjects. Social behavior in the classroom, self-concept, and academic learning maturity were measured. Treatment consisted of 22 play sessions carried out over one academic year. The program's games encourage children to cooperate and share, as well as to develop symbolic play. Results of variance analyses suggest that the intervention stimulated significant improvement in social behavior in the classroom (increasing behaviors of leadership, cheerfulness, sensitivity, and respect, and decreasing aggressiveness, apathy and anxiety), and in some aptitudes for academic learning (verbal and numerical skills). Although self-concept scores also increased, this change was not significant.
The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive–behavioral group counseling provided to behaviorally disruptive elementary school children. Fifty-two referred children received protocol-based cognitive–behavioral group counseling provided by the first author, a school social worker. Students were randomly assigned to receive either immediate (IT) group counseling or delayed treatment (DT). The two groups were roughly equivalent on most demographic and outcome measures at the first assessment. Following group counseling, the IT groups' self-esteem, perceived self-control, teacher, and teacher aide grades of classroom comportment significantly improved, while similar measures of the DT children did not appreciably change. The DT children then received the same group program the IT group was exposed to three months earlier, and when group counseling was completed (third assessment) the IT groups' gains had been maintained, and the DT group gained improvements similar to those obtained by the IT group. In conclusion, cognitive–behavioral group work can be an effective intervention with behaviorally disruptive elementary school students. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Research on the relation between social information processing and social adjustment in childhood is reviewed and interpreted within the framework of a reformulated model of human performance and social exchange. This reformulation proves to assimilate almost all previous studies and is a useful heuristic device for organizing the field. The review suggests that overwhelming evidence supports the empirical relation between characteristic processing styles and children's social adjustment, with some aspects of processing (e.g., hostile attributional biases, intention cue detection accuracy, response access patterns, and evaluation of response outcomes) likely to be causal of behaviors that lead to social status and other aspects (e.g., perceived self-competence) likely to be responsive to peer status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The effects of assertion training on aggressive adolescents' behavior were examined. 30 9th-grade students judged by peers to be aggressive were randomly assigned to assertion training, placebo, and no-treatment control groups. The experimental group received 8 50-min assertion training sessions, and the 2 other groups received either no contact or placebo sessions concerning decision-making. Results show that the assertion training yielded significant improvement on the assertion scale, but it had little effect on peer-judged aggression. The implications of the findings are discussed. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Changes in the behavior and peer acceptance of low-status preschool children as a result of social skill training were examined. Children who had low sociometric status and were also low in classroom use of social skills were randomly assigned to a skill training group (
n = 18) or to an attention control group (
n = 15). Children in the training group were coached in 4 skills: leading peers, asking questions of peers, making comments to peers, and supporting peers. Trained children showed a significant increase in their use of the trained skills comments and leads from pretest to posttest, whereas control-group children showed no change. Neither control nor skill-trained children changed significantly on sociometric measures from pretest to posttest. Increases in skill use in the classroom with peers was correlated with improvements in children's knowledge of friendly social strategies from pre- to posttest. Results are interpreted as evidence of a social skill basis for peer acceptance and of the need to develop procedures to assess the mechanisms of change during social skills training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
1. An Introduction to Conduct Disorders. 2. The Nature of Antisocial Behaviors and Conduct Disorders. 3. Classification of Conduct Disorders. 4. The Etiology of Conduct Disorders. 5. Clinical Assessment. 6. Treatment I: The Basic Techniques. 7. Comprehensive Approaches to Treatment. References. Index.
Epidemiology is both a scientific discipline and a powerful set of investigative methods that have been adopted by other fields, including the fields that study the behavior problems of children and adolescents. The discipline of epidemiology was developed to study the etiology of diseases, and the methods of epidemiology evolved in service of that aim. Because the mental health disciplines also seek to understand the origins of disorders, it has been to our advantage to adopt many of the methods of epidemiology.
Foreword - Rolf Loeber and David P Farrington Preface 1 - James Q Wilson Preface 2 - Lloyd E Ohlin Major Aims of the Book - David P Farrington and Rolf Loeber PART 1: DEVELOPMENTAL COURSE AND RISK FACTORS Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders - Rolf Loeber, David P Farrington and Daviel A Waschbusch Race and Ethnicity and Serious Juvenil Offenders - Darnell Hawkins, John H Laub and Janet Lauritsen The Contemporaneous Co-Occurrence of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending and Other Problems - David Huizinga and Cynthia Jakob-Chien Development of Serious and Violent Offending Careers - Patrick H Tolan and Deborah Gorman-Smith Predictors of Violent or Serious Delinquency in Adolescence and Early Adulthood - Mark W Lipsey and James H Derzon A Synthesis of Longitudinal Research A Review of Predictors of Youth Violence - J David Hawkins et al Membership in Youth Gangs and Involvement in Serious and Violent Offenders - Terence P Thornberry Screening of Serious/Violent Juvenile Offenders - Marc Le Blanc Identification, Classification and Prediction PART TWO: PREVENTIVE INTERVENTIONS AND GRADUATED SANCTIONS The Prevention of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offending - Gail A Wasserman and Laurie S Miller Comprehensive Community and School-Based Interventions to Prevent Antisocial Behavior - Richard F Catalano et al Promising Programs for Youth Gang Violence Prevention and Intervention - James C Howell Effective Intervention for Serious Juvenile Offenders - Mark W Lipsey and David B Wilson The Impact of the Juvenile Justice System and Prospects for Graduated Sanctions in a Comprehensive Strategy - Barry Krisberg and James C Howell Intermediate Sanctions and Community Treatment of Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders - David M Altschuler PART THREE: CONCLUDING OVERVIEW Serious Violent Juvenile Offenders - Nancy G Guerra Gaps in Knowledge and Research Priorities Conclusions and the Way Forward - Rolf Loeber and David P Farrington
Prevention experiments with children have targeted the development of antisocial behavior and confirm the hypothesis that early childhood factors are important precursors of delinquent behavior and that a cumulative effect model best fits the data. Experiments have aimed to prevent criminal behavior or one of three important delinquency risk factors: socially disruptive behavior, cognitive deficits, and poor parenting. Experiments with juvenile delinquency as an outcome demonstrate that positive results are more likely when interventions are aimed at more than one risk factor, last for a relatively long period of time, and are implemented before adolescence. Experiments featuring early childhood interventions with socially disruptive behavior, cognitive deficits, or parenting as an outcome generally have positive effects. The majority of studies, small-scale confirmation or replication experiments, need to be followed by large-scale field experiments that test the efficacy and cost of implementation in re...
A seven-step, behaviorally based, decision-making process was taught to 17 children, age 9–10 years. Each child's decision-making ability was measured before and after training, using two audiotaped stories that described problem situations typically encountered in the school or home. The children were asked to identify the problem, generate alternative solutions, think of positive and negative consequences for each solution, and offer a personal value supporting their decision. As compared to a no-treatment control group, the children receiving the decision-making training obtained significantly greater scores on four of five dependent measures. Implications for teaching decision-making as a self-management skill are offered.
The Primary Mental Health Project (PMHP) is a school based intervention program designed to identify and prevent school adjustment problems in primary grade children. In the PMHP, children identified as being at risk with respect to early school maladjustment are paired with trained nonprofessional aides in a play-type setting. The role of the aide is to encourage the expression of feelings, to help develop coping skills, and to serve as an adult model. Evaluation studies, with primarily positive results, have been conducted; however, the majority of these studies have employed experimental and control schools matched on demographic variables. The present study examined PMHP's effectiveness employing random assignment of children to experimental and control conditions within a single school. Results indicated no significant differences between the groups on behavioral, self-concept, academic, and intellectual criteria.
Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving training, developed to teach children how (rather than what) to think and therefore how to solve their own interpersonal problems, was used in a study over three years conducted in Newaygo County, Michigan to evaluate its impact on low-income preschool children. Overall, trained children improved in both their ability to solve interpersonal problems, and in their classroom behavior. Control children showed no such systematic improvement. The relationships between problem-solving ability and classroom behavior were observed directly and found to be positively related. The findings of these three studies indicate that interpersonal problem-solving training is useful with low-income, rural children.
Utilizing two treatment and two control groups, 80 fourth grade elementary schoolchildren participated in an assertive training experiment comparing 8 vs. 16 contact hours of training. Both training groups performed significantly better than the control groups on all post and follow-up assessment measures. At follow-up, self-report measures of assertiveness and teachers' ratings of students' behaviors revealed significant differences between treatment and control groups, and marginally significant differences between the 8 vs. 16 hour groups. These findings are discussed, with recommendations for future investigations.
This paper reports the effects of a package of instructional methods on the academic achievement, behavior, and social bonding of seventh grade students who were low achievers in math. Proactive classroom management, interactive teaching, and cooperative learning methods were included. Low achievers in experimental classrooms showed more favorable attitudes toward math, more bonding to school, greater expectations for continuing schooling, and less serious misbehavior as measured by suspensions and expulsions from school than did their low-achieving control counterparts at the end of one academic year. Among low achievers, significant effects of the teaching practices were not found for California Achievement Test scores or for self-reported delinquency or drug use. The results suggest that interventions in mainstream classrooms can promote school attachment and deter misbehavior among low-achieving students. The absence of short-term effects on standardized achievement scores suggests possible alternatives to the authors' hypotheses, whereas the absence of short-term effects on self-reported delinquency and drug use was consistent with the authors' hypotheses of delayed effects for these variables.
Our random assignment evaluation found that this type of mentonng had a significant positive effect on youths ages 10 to 16. Over the 18-month follow-up pertod, youths participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters Programs were significantly less likely to have started using illegal drugs or alcohol, hit someone, or skipped school. They were also more confident about their school performance and got along better with their families. Mentors were carefully screened, trained, and matched with a youth whom they met, on average, three or four times a month for approximately a year The program also provtdes careful professional supervision of these matches.
In this article, the authors examine common practices of reporting statistically nonsignificant findings in criminal justice evaluation studies. They find that criminal justice evaluators often make formal errors in the reporting of statistically nonsignificant results. Instead of simply concluding that the results were not statistically significant, or that there is not enough evidence to support an effect of treatment, they often mistakenly accept the null hypothesis and state that the intervention had no impact or did not work. The authors propose that researchers define a second null hypothesis that sets a minimal threshold for program effectiveness. In an illustration of this approach, they find that more than half of the studies that had no statistically significant finding for a traditional, no difference null hypothesis evidenced a statistically significant result in the case of a minimal worthwhile treatment effect null hypothesis.
This review highlights the importance of recognizing the possibility for doing harm when intentions are good. It describes several examples showing that well-planned and adequately executed programs provide no guarantee for safety or efficacy. The author concludes with recommendations for scientifically credible evaluations to promote progress in the field of crime prevention.
This article describes a transcultural replication of the CLASS program in Costa Rica. CLASS (Contingencies for Learning Academic and Social Skills) is a comprehensive intervention package for remediating disruptive child behavior in mainstream classroom settings (Walker & Hops, 1979). The CLASS program has been applied successfully in the United States, but its effects have not been previously tested in a cross-cultural setting. This study was conducted in a series of regular public elementary schools in San Jose, Costa Rica, a large urban area. A group of program consultants were trained in CLASS program procedures during an intensive 3-day in-service conducted by the authors. Twenty acting out children enrolled in regular elementary schools served as target subjects. They were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group, forming two groups of 10 each. Direct observational data were collected at pre-and post-time points under identical conditions. Results were analyzed using t-tests of group mean differences between experimental and control group subjects at pre- and post-time points. No statistically significant differences between the experimental and control group means were found at pre, but mean differences favoring the experimental group were obtained at post. A consumer satisfaction measure completed by program consultants was very positive.
Presents a meta-analytical review of 49 studies, from 1981 to 1990, on the effect of social competence training (SCT) on 3- to 15-year-olds. Main issues were (a) effectiveness in relation to program type and client characteristics as well as outcome criteria, (b) differential effects, (c) types of long-term effect, and (d) a comparison to other meta-analyses in the field, Results showed that SCT was moderately effective. However, effect sizes were lower than in previous studies. There were specific, characteristic effects for various types of program and on various client groups. Two main problems were identified: First, significant effect sizes were found only when direct goal criteria (e.g., social-cognitive skills) were evaluated, whereas there were few effects on broader constructs (e.g., social adjustment). Second, long-term effects were weak. We concluded that further primary studies are needed on the generalization and maintenance of change.
Peer coping-skills (PCS) training is a new school-based intervention designed to promote prosocial coping among school-age children. The intervention is based on a coping-competence model that addresses the development of antisocial and asocial coping among youth at elevated risk for conduct disorder. PCS training was tested in a controlled evaluation with children in Grades 1 to 3 who exhibit high rates of aggressive behavior, and it was found to increase prosocial coping via information exchange, improve social skills, and reduce aggression. These improvements were maintained into the next school year, as reflected in a 6-month follow-up assessment by teachers. Competent-nonaggressive children who also participated not only showed no adverse effects by demonstrated skill enhancement. Children, parents, and teachers in the ethnically diverse sample rated PCS training as highly acceptable. It is recommended that PCS training be combined with family and classroom intervention strategies over multiple years to promote the development of competence and to increase the likelihood of preventing conduct disorders in high-risk youth.
The role of the treatment context in cognitive-behavioral self-control training with children was investigated by comparing individual treatment, group treatment, and nonspecific group treatment (control) conditions. Thirty teacher-referred children (grades 3–5) participated in 12 sessions with practice on psychoeducational tasks, interpersonal play situations, and personal problem areas. Children in the individual and group treatment conditions received verbal self-instructional training via modeling with a response-cost contingency for errors and social and self-reward for correct performance and behavior. Results indicated some improvements for all conditions, yet only the individual and group cognitive-behavioral treatment conditions evidenced improvements on blind teacher ratings of self-control at posttreatment and perspective taking at follow-up.
One of the more revealing aspects of meta-analysis is the relationship between effect sizes and moderator variables representing differences among studies in their methods, samples, and interventions. However, interesting moderator variables are generally related to each other as well as to effect sizes. This confounding among moderator variables can make the results of any analysis focusing on a single moderator variable misleading. Despite the ambiguity of such results, this form of analysis is common in meta-analytic studies of intervention. The hazards and complexities of investigating and interpreting confounded moderator variables are illustrated in this article by the author's examining the difference in effect sizes associated with randomized versus nonrandomized designs in a large meta-analytic database of delinquency intervention studies.
This meta-analytic study examined the relative effectiveness of three methods of social skills training with socially isolated children: coaching, interpersonal cognitive problem solving, and modelling. An exhaustive search of the published literature in the area produced a total of 43 studies that met stringent criteria for inclusion in the subsequent analysis. Social skills training produced significant improvements in children's levels of social interaction, sociometric status and cognitive problem solving abilities. No training technique produced a significantly greater improvement than either of the others. Isolated children showed larger increases in their levels of social interaction and sociometric status than non-isolate children. Multi-modal training programmes were recommended to capitalize on the independent therapeutic effects which derive from a number of different social skills training techniques.
Does the type of research design used in a crime and justice study influence its conclusions? Scholars agree in theory that randomized experimental studies have higher internal validity than do nonrandomized studies. But there is not consensus regarding the costs of using nonrandomized studies in coming to conclusions regarding criminal justice interventions. To examine these issues, the authors look at the relationship between research design and study outcomes in a broad review of research evidence on crime and justice commissioned by the National Institute of Justice. Their findings suggest that design does have a systematic effect on outcomes in criminal justice studies. The weaker a design, indicated by internal validity, the more likely a study is to report a result in favor of treatment and the less likely it is to report a harmful effect of treatment. Even when comparing randomized studies with strong quasi-experimental research designs, systematic and statistically significant differences are observed.
The degree to which children and youth establish and maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers is the defining feature of social competence. Difficulties in social competence play a substantial role in social, psychological, and educational adjustment and often serve as the basis for intervention and remediation strategies. This article reviews past and present conceptualizations and summarizes narrative and meta-analytic reviews of social skills training (SST) outcome studies. Overall, modest effect sizes are reported in the meta-analytic literature (M = .35) suggesting that SST is a relatively weak intervention strategy, leading to only a 14% improvement in social functioning over chance (64% versus 50%). Three recommendations are offered as a blueprint for rebuilding SST: (1) improving assessment by considering the social validity and sensitivity of outcome measures; (2) matching social skills intervention strategies to specific social skills deficits; and (3) programming for functional rather than topographical generalization by adopting a contextual approach to teaching social behavior within a competing behaviors framework.
The effects of a classroom-based, short-term Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-Solving programme for 24 7- and 8-year-old children were assessed immediately after a 4-week intervention programme and again after a 4-week follow-up period. A previous study (Erwin & Ruane, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 7, 305–310, 1993) implementing such a short-term programme relied on sociometric testing to measure the social effectiveness of the training and failed to find any changes in social status. The present study incorporated playground observations and found behavioural improvements immediately after training and after the follow-up period for the experimental group. However, confirming the previous study, no significant differences in sociometric status were found. The results highlight the limitations of sociometry as a measure of the effectiveness of a programme of training in Interpersonal Cognitive Problem-solving.
A meta-analysis of 38 studies of social skills training interventions with antisocial youth was performed. Also examined were treatment effects for interventions that differed in group composition. The intervention studies yielded an overall effect size of .62 at posttreatment. As predicted, skills training interventions delivered in the context of groups consisting of only antisocial peers produced smaller benefits than did skills training interventions that avoided aggregating antisocial peers (i.e., groups comprised prosocial and antisocial youth or individual treatment). For those 18 studies for which follow-up data were reported, treatments provided in the context of either mixed or individual treatment also produced larger follow-up effect sizes than did deviant-only group interventions. It is concluded that these findings add to a growing body of evidence of smaller treatment benefits associated with skills training provided in the context of groups composed exclusively of antisocial participants. Implications for the recruitment of prosocial peers for inclusion in skills training interventions for aggressive and antisocial youth are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
An anger-aggression management curriculum utilizing cognitive-behavioral principles and techniques was evaluated for its effect on a classroom of urban, at-risk middle school students. The 10-session curriculum was taught over a 5-wk period to a racially integrated classroom of 22 males and females (mean age 13.9 yrs). Heavy use of video symbolic modeling was integrated with techniques of self-instruction, problem solving, and self-monitoring. The intervention research targeted incidents of aggressive and disruptive behavior in school, anger control, and self-reported tendencies to behave in an antisocial manner. Significant differences between the treatment group and a control group (
n = 15) were noted at follow-up in numbers of misconduct referrals. Results are discussed in terms of the use of school-based curriculum in the prevention and intervention of juvenile delinquency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Antisocial behavior exhibited by children and youth has been an issue of concern for societies throughout history. Events of recent years in the United States (e.g., school shootings, increases in criminal adjudication among children and youth, escalation in violent behavior within this age group) have galvanized public concern and raised antisocial behavior among children and youth to a national health care issue. The purpose of this article is to briefly review the social skills training knowledge base and describe social skills training considerations for at-risk and antisocial children and youth at 3 grade levels: (1) preschool and elementary, (2) middle school, and (3) high school. Characteristics of students, composition of model social skills interventions, and, where possible, efficacy data are reviewed and discussed. We conclude the article by discussing recommendations for future research in this area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
45 4th and 5th graders from 3 inner-city schools who had high scores on the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist (WPBIC) participated in a counseling program designed to promote more positive behavior. Ss were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups (goal disclosure only, goal disclosure with action planning, and an active-comparison group). An insight scale was administered in the 1st counseling session and again at the end of treatment. Consistent with Adlerian theory, 85% of the Ss indicated that they did not know the reason for their misbehavior or gave an answer that was unrelated to themselves. Results also indicate a significant difference among the posttreatment insight of the 3 groups, with the 2 goal-disclosure groups showing increased insight and the active-comparison group showing decreased insight. No changes in WPBIC scores were observed. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)