This paper presents the results from a study on the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral intervention aimed at aggressive children and their parents, to examine substance use, delinquency, and school-based aggressive behavior outcomes, one year after the intervention; the authors present their research methodology and discuss the results.
This study examines key substance use, delinquency, and school-based aggressive behavior outcomes at a one-year follow-up for a cognitive-behavioral intervention delivered to aggressive children and their parents at the time of these children's transition to middle school. This effectiveness study explored whether a classroom intervention directed at teachers and at all of the parents in the intervention classrooms enhanced the effects of the Coping Power program with at-risk children. The at-risk sample of boys and girls was identified through fourth-grade teacher ratings, and intervention took place during the fifth- and sixth-grade years. The Coping Power child component included school-based groups focusing on anger management and social problem-solving skills, and the Coping Power parent component addressed parenting and stress-management skills. The current results indicate that prior findings of postintervention improvement for this sample has led to preventive effects on delinquency and on substance use for older and moderate-risk children. The Coping Power program, in conjunction with a classroom-level intervention, also reduced school aggression, one year after the intervention was completed. In addition, it appears that the classroom intervention facilitates radiating effects on reduced substance use for other at-risk children in the same classrooms who did not receive Coping Power. Publisher Abstract Provided