Since many intervention programs have attempted to reduce disruptive behavior during early childhood to prevent maladjustment during adolescence and adulthood, the current study assessed the long-term impact and clinical significance of a 2-year multi-component preventive intervention on criminal behavior and academic achievement, using intention-to-treat analyses.
A total of 250 targeted disruptive aggressive boys considered to be at risk of later criminal behavior and low school achievement were identified in a community sample of 895 boys randomly allocated to an intervention or a control group. The rest of the sample (n-645) served as the low-risk group. The intervention was multimodal and targeted boys, parents, and teachers. Official data were used to measure both outcomes. The study found that significantly more boys in the intervention group (13 percent; P<0.05) completed high-school graduation, and generally fewer (11 percent; P=0.06) had a criminal record compared with those allocated to the control group. (publisher abstract modified)