HEAD START UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS: DUAL GENERATION APPROACHES

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This project will test the proximal and distal effects of an integrated dual-generation intervention approach, Power PATH. Two evidence-based and widely-utilized preventive interventions will be integrated and adapted to provide intervention services to Head Start families. First, the Power PATH Parent Intervention program, based on Coping Power (Lochman & Wells, 2001), will address parental mental health needs to increase employment and financial security, and to improve parents' ability to model effective social-emotional skills. Second, the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) Preschool curriculum (Domitrovich et al., 1999) will be implemented in classrooms to increase children's social-emotional competence and self-regulatory skills, leading to long-term social, behavioral and academic gains. This study will identify novel intervention mediators and moderators, essential for interrupting the intergenerational transmission of chronic social stress. It will also identify the best interventions for families, particularly during preschool when self-regulation skills are still malleable, and children's primary environments and physiological responses to stress are likely to moderate intervention effects. In summary, addressing sources of Head Start parents' chronic stress through the Power PATH dual generation intervention is expected to prepare parents to better scaffold their children's self-regulation skills and to better foster their children's school readiness, improving overall family well-being.