PERIODIC FOLLOW UP OF TWO UNIVERSAL PREVENTIVE TRIALS

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): This proposal seeks to extend trough early adolescence an examination of the impact of two, universal, first grade, preventive interventions on the distal targets of substance abuse, conduct, and affective symptoms and disorders and the corresponding need for and utilization of child mental health and special education services. We will build on the scientific value of an existing, prospective, developmental epidemiological data base involving a defined population of urban first-graders, whose psychological well-being (PWB) and social adaptational status (SAS) I the classroom, peer group, and family social fields have been assessed periodically from 1993 through 1997 (ages 6-10). This representative population of urban first graders is comprised of 678 children from 9 elementary schools in predominantly low to lower middle income areas in Baltimore. Within each of the nine schools, first grade children and their teachers were randomly assigned to either a standard setting (i.e., control) classroom or to a classroom featuring one of two, universal preventive interventions. Each intervention specifically targeted two confirmed antecedents of later antisocial behavior, psychiatric symptoms and substance use: 1) aggressive and shy behaviors, antecedents of later conduct problems, antisocial personality and substance use, and 2) poor school achievement, an antecedent of later anxious and depressive symptoms. One intervention, the classroom-centered intervention (CC), sought to reduce the early risk behaviors of poor achievement and aggressive and shy behaviors through the enhancement of classroom curricula and teacher instructional and behavior management practices. The second intervention, the family-school partnership intervention (FSP), sought to reduce these early risk behaviors by improving parent-teacher collaboration and by enhancing parents teaching and behavior management skills. Extension of the data set through ages 11-14 will enable us to assess the effectiveness of the CC and FSP interventions in terms of the reduced risk for substance abuse, conduct, and affective symptoms and disorders in early adolescence, and the corresponding reduction in the need for, use, and associated costs of child mental health and special education services. The data set will also allow us to assess variation in the malleability of developmental paths as a function of the initial and evolving characteristics of the child, and the social fields of family, peer group, classroom/school, and neighborhood. Finally, continued follow-up will enable us to determine the incidence and prevalence of substance abuse, conduct, and affective disorders, and the corresponding need and unmet need for child mental health and special education services in early adolescence.