Articlegreen2013

Preventing Negative Behaviors among Elementary-School Students through Enhancing Students' Social-Emotional and Character Development

Frank J. Snyder · Alan C. Acock · Samuel Vuchinich · Michael W. Beets · Isaac J. Washburn · Brian R. Flay

53 citations0/0 files storedAmerican Journal of Health Promotion

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Youth Development and Social Support Early Childhood Education and Development Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Abstract

PURPOSE: Examine the effects of a comprehensive, school-wide social-emotional and character development program using a positive youth development perspective. Specifically, we examined a mediation mechanism whereby positive academic-related behaviors mediated the intervention effects on substance use, violence, and sexual activity. DESIGN: Matched-pair, cluster-randomized, controlled design. SETTING: Twenty (10 intervention and 10 control) racially/ethnically diverse schools in Hawaii. SUBJECTS: Elementary-aged students (N = 1784) from grade 5. INTERVENTION: The Positive Action program. MEASURES: Students self-reported their academic behaviors, together with their substance use, violence, and voluntary sexual activity; teachers rated students' academic behaviors, substance use, and violence. ANALYSIS: Structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Students attending intervention schools reported significantly better academic behavior (B = .273, SE = .039, p < .001) and significantly less substance use (B = -.970, SE = .292, p < .01, incidence-rate ratio [IRR] = .379), violence (B = -1.410, SE = .296, p < .001, IRR = .244), and sexual activity (B = -2.415, SE = .608, p < .001, odds ratio = .089); boys reported more negative behaviors than girls. Intervention effects on student-reported substance use, violence, and sexual activity were mediated by positive academic behavior. Teacher reports corroborated these results, with rated academic behavior partially mediating the effects of the intervention on rated negative behaviors. CONCLUSION: This study (1) provides evidence that adds insight into one mechanism through which a social-emotional and character development program affects negative outcomes and (2) supports social-emotional and character development and positive youth development perspectives that posit that focusing on youths' assets may reduce negative behaviors.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 53 citations exist upstream.

References

2011The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions 2002Emerging Theories in Health Promotion Practice and Research 2008Executive functions and school readiness intervention: Impact, moderation, and mediation in the Head Start REDI program 1970Self concept and school achievement 2009Positive Youth Development 2006The Mediational Role of Neurocognition in the Behavioral Outcomes of a Social-Emotional Prevention Program in Elementary School Students: Effects of the PATHS Curriculum 2009Doubly-Latent Models of School Contextual Effects: Integrating Multilevel and Structural Equation Approaches to Control Measurement and Sampling Error 2004Effects of 2 Prevention Programs on High-Risk Behaviors Among African American Youth

Cited by

2015A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Positive Action Program in a Low-Income, Racially Diverse, Rural County: Effects on Self-Esteem, School Hassles, Aggression, and Internalizing Symptoms

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.