Reducing Early Childhood Aggression: Results of a Primary Prevention Program J. DAVID HAWKINS, PH.D., ELIZABETH VON CLEVE, PH.D., AND RICHARD F. CATALANO, JR., PH.D.
Abstract. Teacher-rated antisocial behavior in early elementary grades has been shown to be a precursor of adolescent delinquency and drug use. The combined effects of parent and teacher training on the teacher-rated antisocial behavior of a panel of subjects assigned to experimental and control classrooms at entry into the first grade was assessed at the end of the second grade. Lower rates of aggressiveness were found for white boys in the experimental classrooms and lower rates of self-destructive behavior were found for white girls in the experimental classrooms when compared with controls on the Teacher Form of the Child Behavior Checklist. No significant condition differences were found for black subjects. The interventions are described and limits and implications of the study are discussed. J . Am. Arad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1991, 30, 2:208-217. Key Words: aggression, prevention, childhood.
Aggressive behavior in the early elementary grades is a precursor of delinquency in adolescence, whether measured by official records or self-reports (West and Farrington, 1973; Magnusson et al., 1975; West and Farrington, 1977; Farrington, 1978; Olweus, 1979; Chaiken and Chaiken, 1982; Patterson, 1982; Rutter, 1982; Emsinger et al., 1983; Kohlberg et al., 1984; Blumstein et al., 1985; Loeber and Stouthamer-loeber, 1987). For some children, antisocial behavior stabilizes in the early elementary grades and maintains a high degree of stability over time (West and Farrington, 1973; Gersten et al., 1976; Olweus, 1979; Ghodsian et al., 1980; Patterson, 1982; Rutter, 1982; Alterman and Tarter, 1983; Loeber and Dishion, 1983; Kohlberg et al., 1984; McGee et al., 1984; Weiss et al., 1985; Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber, 1987). The more serious and the greater the variety and frequency of early antisocial behaviors, the greater the risk that antisocial and criminal behavior will continue into later adolescence and adulthood (Robins, 1978; Farrington, 1979a, b; Robins, 1979; Robins and Ratcliff, 1979; Blumstein et al., 1985; Farrington, 1985a, b, 1986a, b). Early antisocial behavior also predicts the frequent use of drugs in adolescence (Robins, 1978; Lerner and Vicary, 1984; Simcha-Fagan et al., 1986). In their sample of 1,242
Accepted August 27, 1990. Dr. Hawkins is Professor of Social Work and Director of the Social Development Research Group. Dr. Catalan0 is Associate Professor of Social Work and Associate Director of the Social Development Research Group, and Dr. Von Cleve is Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington. This research was supported by grants from the Prevention Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Burlington Northern Foundation. The authors express our sincere thanks to the students, parents, and staff of the Seattle School District who are our collaborators in this study. Reprint requests to the Social Development Research Group, XD50, University of Washington, School of Social Work, Seattle, WA 98195. 0890-8567/91/3002-0208$03.00/001991by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
208
urban black first-grade students, Kellam and Brown (1982) found a positive relationship between first-grade male aggressiveness, especially when coupied with shyness, and the frequency of substance use 10 years later. This evidence suggests that prevention programs that reduce antisocial behavior, particularly aggressive behavior in boys, during the early grades of elementary school hold promise for preventing delinquency and drug use in adolescence. Teacher and parent training have been advocated as promising approaches for reducing early antisocial behavior. The interventions tested here are based on the social development model (Hawkins and Weis, 1985) and seek to enhance prosocial development, reduce aggressive antisocial behavior, and reduce the risk for delinquency and drug abuse by promoting in families and school classrooms conditions hypothesized as necessary for social bonding. These are: opportunities for involvement in conventional activities, skills for successful involvement, and rewards for conventional behavior. It is hypothesized in the social development model that the levels of opportunities, the skills and rewards available in families and schools affect youths’ degree of attachment to family and school, their degree of commitment to their conventional lines of action within these settings, and their belief in the conventional moral and legal order of society. Following Hirschi’s (1969) empirically supported social control theory, the extent of social bonding to conventional socialization units of the family and school is expected to affect children’s risk for delinquent and other antisocial patterns of behavior in adolescence. This paper describes a field experiment in which a program of parent and teacher training was tested for shortterm effects on early antisocial behavior.
Method RESEARCH DESIGN Eight Seattle public elementary schools participated in the study. First-grade teachers and students were randomly assigned to experimental or control classrooms in six of the J . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2, March 1991
REDUCING EARLY CHILDHOOD AGGRESSION
eight schools. The other two schools were assigned to a full control or full experimental condition. In the full experimental condition school, all first-grade students and teachers were assigned to the experimental condition. All first-grade students and teachers in the full control school were assigned to the control condition. This resulted in the assignment of 11 first-grade teachers to experimental classrooms and 10 teachers to control classrooms. New students entering the six within-building design schools during the course of this study were randomly assigned to experimental or control classes. In each school, the ratio of random assignments to experimental and control classrooms was periodically adjusted to prevent the creation of unequal class sizes. Ten students in within-building design schools were transferred between the experimental and control group classrooms during the project. In the analyses, two of these students were included in the experimental condition because their parents attended a parent training class offered to experimental families. The eight remaining students whose project status changed during the study were dropped from the analysis. SAMPLEDESCRIPTION All subjects entered the first grade in the fall of 1981. Of these, 520 were in project schools in the spring of 1983 when posttest data were collected. Posttest data were obtained on 458 (88.1%) of those eligible. Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the subjects in the experimental and control classrooms with posttest data. The two groups were compared by sex, race, a measure of socioeconomic status (whether or not the student was eligible to receive a free lunch at school), and with whom the student lived during the study period. Slightly more control group subjects were male (50.3% versus 46.1%), eligible for free lunch (86.8% versus 84.6%), and not living with both parents (53.2% versus 49.5%). Slightly more experimental group subjects were nonwhite (55.0% versus 52.9%). There were no significant demographic differences between experimental and control groups that would preclude an analysis of differences between the groups after intervention. An analysis of student self-report data collected at the beginning of the first grade indicated that the control group subjects were slightly more conventional than the experimental group subjects at baseline. On eight of 28 self-report items, first-grade control group subjects differed significantly tp < 0.05) from experimental group subjects in a prosocial direction; significant differences were found on measures of their attachment to school, family communication, family supervision, and antisocial orientations. There were no significant differences on 20 remaining self-report pretest items. Since all baseline differences between experimental and control groups favor the control group, any posttest differences favoring the experimental group are not likely to result from selection effects or initial bias in the groups.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM The parent and teacher training interventions tested were J . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2,March 1991
TABLE1. Characteristics of Second-Grade Experimental Group and Control G r o w Subjects with Posstest Data (N = 458)
Free lunch Eligible Not eligible Sex Male Female Race Native American Asian Black Hispanic White Living with Both parents Father Mother Guardian Other
Experimental (%) ( N = 285)
Control (%) (N = 173)
84.6 15.4
86.8 13.2
46.1
53.9
50.3 49.7
6.0 15.6 31.2 2.2 45.0
2.3 16.5 32.4 1.7 47.1
50.5 1.1 40.4 2.8 5.1
46.8
2.9 41.6 2.9 5.8
designed to be developmentally appropriate for parents and teachers of first- and second-grade students. Parent Training Poor family managment practices have been identified as a factor that increases the risk that a child will become delinquent (Farrington, 1979a; McCord, 1979; Loeber and Dishion, 1983; Farrington, 1986a; Loeber and StouthamerLoeber, 1986) and abuse drugs (Penning and Barnes, 1982; Baumrind, 1983; Simcha-Fagan et al., 1986). The parent training component sought to teach parents effective family management skills. It was hypothesized that improvements in parenting practices would increase bonds of attachment between parents and children and reduce the risk of later adolescent delinquency and drug abuse. Research has shown that parents can be trained to effectively change their children’s behavior (Patterson et al., 1967; Wahler, 1969; Wittes and Radin, 1971; Patterson, 1974a, b; Forehand et al., 1975; Martin, 1977; Briar and Conte, 1978; Roberts et al., 1978; Patterson and Fleischman, 1979; Patterson, 1982). Parent training has been shown to be effective in improving parenting practices, in increasing parent-child attachment, and in reducing some delinquent behaviors among boys with conduct disorders (Patterson, 1982; Fraser et al., 1988). The parenting curriculum tested in this project, “Catch ’Em Being Good,” taught parents skills in monitoring and supervising children’s behavior, in using appropriate rewards and punishments, in using consistent discipline practices, in using effective communication skills, and involving children in family activities (Hawkins et al., 1987). To increase the involvement in the activities of the family, parents also were encouraged to create age-appropriate family roles for their children and to increase family activities and family time together.
209
HAWKINS ET AL.
Parent training was offered in seven consecutive weekly sessions to all parents whose children were assigned to experimental classrooms. The program was offered when children were in first grade and again when children were in second grade. The program used a standard skills training format including the demonstration and modeling of skills, roleplay, feedback, and homework practice assignments. Recruitment and other implementation issues associated with this parent training component are discussed elsewhere (Hawkins et al., 1987). Teacher Training
There is considerable evidence that failure in schools is positively correlated with delinquency and adolescent drug abuse (Hirschi, 1969; Jensen, 1972; Elliott and Voss, 1974; Jensen, 1976; Brooks et al., 1977; Jessor and Jessor, 1977; Kandel et al., 1978; Johnson, 1979; Gottfredson, 1981; Hawkins and Lishner, 1987) and precedes delinquency (Elliott and Voss, 1974; Bachman et al., 1979; Phillips and Kelly, 1979). Moreover, antisocial behavior in early grades appears to be predictive of academic problems (Feldhusen et al., 1973; Kellam et al., 1982). Delinquency also appears to be linked to a low degree of attachment to teachers and commitment to school and education (Hirschi, 1969; Kelly and Balch, 1971; Hindelang, 1973; Elliott and Voss, 1974; Lawrence, 1985; Hawkins and Lishner, 1987). Teacher training designed to increase academic performance, reduce antisocial behavior, and increase bonds of attachment and commitment to school should directly affect these schoolrelated risk factors for adolescent delinquency and drug abuse. The experimental program tested here trained teachers in the use of proactive classroom management methods, cognitive social skills training, and interactive teaching methods. These methods of instruction are hypothesized to promote the conditions necessary for social bonding between youth and school by increasing all students’ opportunities for academic success and participation in the classroom (Catalan0 and Hawkins, 1986), by increasing the skills necessary for successful participation, and by providing consistent rewards for classroom participation in desired behaviors (Hawkins and Lishner, 1987). Proactive classroom management is designed to prevent behavioral problems before they occur by teaching basic skills for appropriate classroom participation (Hawkins and Lam, 1987). Teachers learn to provide clear instructions and expectations about attendance, classroom procedures, and rules. Teachers learn to use the least disruptive interventions to maintain order in the classroom without interrupting instruction (Cummings, 1983). Proactive classroom management also includes the frequent use of encouragement and praise to reinforce desired behaviors in the classroom and to increase the social bonding of the student to the teacher and school. This method of instruction is expected to reduce early antisocial behavior in the classroom by giving teachers skills in extinguishing disruptive behavior without resorting to punitive sanctions and by rewarding the students for prosocial behavior. 210
Social skills training teaches communication, decision making, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills. The curriculum used was Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS) developed by Spivack and Shure (1982). This curriculum seeks to increase students’ problem-solving ability as a means of improving their social adjustment (Shure and Spivack, 1980). First-grade teachers were instructed in the use of the social skills lessons in this curriculum to teach children how to think through alternative solutions to problems. ICPS seeks to reduce early antisocial behavior by increasing children’s skills in resolving conflicts prosocially. ICPS has shown positive effects in reducing aggression and impulsive behavior among students in primary grades (Shure and Spivack, 1981). Interactive teaching is based on the premise that, under appropriate instructional conditions, virtually all students can succeed in school (Bloom, 1976). In interactive teaching, students must master and demonstrate an understanding of clearly specified learning objectives before moving on to more advanced work. Grades are determined by this demonstration rather than by comparison to other students. Teachers are trained to monitor all students to assess their comprehension of material and progress in the learning process and to give small incremental rewards to reinforce performance (Hawkins and Lam, 1987; Hawkins et al., 1988). It is hypothesized that the use of this instructional technique will help students develop and maintain interest in the educational material and will decrease off-‘task and disruptive behavior. First-grade teachers in the experimental classrooms were trained in proactive classroom management and social skills training before the first year of the experimental program. Second-grade teachers of the experimental classrooms were trained in the use of interactive teaching methods and proactive classroom management before the subjects’ entry into the second grade. INTERVENTION IMPLEMENTATION Parent Training
Parents of 122 (43.3%) of the experimental group subjects, for whom teacher posttest Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) data were available, attended one or more “Catch ’Em Being Good” parent training classes. Some parents attended more than one series of classes. The number of classes attended over the four quarters in which these classes were offered ranged from 1 to 20, with a mean number of classes attended of 5.4 and a median of 5.5 per attending family. Of the 122 experimental group families attending parent training, 48 (39%) included a father who attended alone or with the mother. The number of parent training classes attended by each parent was analyzed to identify the possible effects of the extent of training received on the outcomes measured in this study. The number of classes attended was not found to be related to posttest scale scores on the teacher CBCL, with one exception. Results showed a significant positive relationship only between the selfdestructive scale for females and the number of classes J . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2, March I991
REDUCING EARLY CHILDHOOD AGGRESSION
parents attended (Adj. RZ = 0.214, p < 0.005, Beta = 0.485). However, the causal direction of this relationship is unknown. It is possible that parents whose daughters were evidencing higher levels of self-destructiveness were more likely than others to attend training. This selection threat is controlled in the analyses reported in the remainder of this paper. Teacher Training
Two data collection instruments documented the extent to which experimental practices were implemented in the experimental and control classrooms. The first instrument was a Teacher Self-Report checklist completed weekly .,The purpose of the checklist was to provide the project staff with information regarding the implementation of program elements in the experimental classrooms. With these teachercompleted checklists, the project staff was able to assess the need for and provide additional technical assistance to the experimental group teachers during the project. The major measure of implementation of the experimental teacher practices was a structured observation system, the Interactive Teaching Map (Kerr et al., 1985). Teacher practices and student behaviors were observed and recorded by trained observers in both the experimental and control classrooms. Each classroom was observed for one 50-minute observation period for two successive days during the fall and again in the spring of the academic year when the subjects were in second grade. Separate observations of students and teachers were made and recorded every 60 seconds for each class period observed. Observation data were not collected in the 1981 to 1982 school year. An analysis of the structured observational data showed that the second-grade teachers of experimental classes implemented the experimental teaching practices significantly more than the control group teachers. The experimental teaching practices have been shown in other analyses to be positively correlated with the amount of time students are actively engaged in learning tasks (r = 0.47) and negatively correlated with students’ off-task behavior (r = -0.30) in the classroom (Hawkins and Lam, 1987). OUTCOME MEASURES Subject outcomes were measured at the end of the second grade. The Teacher Report Form of the CBCL was used to assess the effects of the experimental intervention. The CBCL is a standardized instrument developed by Achenbach to measure children’s antisocial and problem behaviors. It has documented reliability and validity (Achenbach and Edelbrock, 1983, 1986). The teacher rating the child must have known the student being rated for a minimum of 2 months, precluding pretesting using the CBCL at first-grade entry in this study. The 119 items of the CBCL were combined into the eight component and two composite standardized scales created by Achenbach and Edelbrock (1983). The scales are made up of slightly different items for boys and girls. The component scales for boys are Anxious, Social Withdrawal, Unpopular, Self-Destructive, Obsessive-Compulsive, InatJ . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2,March 1991
TABLE2. Second-Grade Experimental-Control Means Comparisons for Males on Teacher-Rated Child Behavior Checklist, Adjusted for Eligibility for Free Lunch ProRram Experimental Scale Anxious Social withdrawal Unpopular Self-destructive Obsessive-compulsive Inattentive Nervous-overactive Aggressive Externalizing antisocial Internalizing antisocial
5i
N
1.17 1.44 1.23 0.67 0.80 7.59 1.62 8.78 15.55 2.39
130 131 127 130 130 131 130 130 130 130
* p < 0.05.
Control X N 1.55 2.07 1.33 0.95 0.96 8.54 1.91 13.38 21.51 3.20
88 88 88 88 88 88 88 87 87 88
F 1S O 2.86
< I 1.63
< I
Abstract. Teacher-rated antisocial behavior in early elementary grades has been shown to be a precursor of adolescent delinquency and drug use. The combined effects of parent and teacher training on the teacher-rated antisocial behavior of a panel of subjects assigned to experimental and control classrooms at entry into the first grade was assessed at the end of the second grade. Lower rates of aggressiveness were found for white boys in the experimental classrooms and lower rates of self-destructive behavior were found for white girls in the experimental classrooms when compared with controls on the Teacher Form of the Child Behavior Checklist. No significant condition differences were found for black subjects. The interventions are described and limits and implications of the study are discussed. J . Am. Arad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 1991, 30, 2:208-217. Key Words: aggression, prevention, childhood.
Aggressive behavior in the early elementary grades is a precursor of delinquency in adolescence, whether measured by official records or self-reports (West and Farrington, 1973; Magnusson et al., 1975; West and Farrington, 1977; Farrington, 1978; Olweus, 1979; Chaiken and Chaiken, 1982; Patterson, 1982; Rutter, 1982; Emsinger et al., 1983; Kohlberg et al., 1984; Blumstein et al., 1985; Loeber and Stouthamer-loeber, 1987). For some children, antisocial behavior stabilizes in the early elementary grades and maintains a high degree of stability over time (West and Farrington, 1973; Gersten et al., 1976; Olweus, 1979; Ghodsian et al., 1980; Patterson, 1982; Rutter, 1982; Alterman and Tarter, 1983; Loeber and Dishion, 1983; Kohlberg et al., 1984; McGee et al., 1984; Weiss et al., 1985; Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber, 1987). The more serious and the greater the variety and frequency of early antisocial behaviors, the greater the risk that antisocial and criminal behavior will continue into later adolescence and adulthood (Robins, 1978; Farrington, 1979a, b; Robins, 1979; Robins and Ratcliff, 1979; Blumstein et al., 1985; Farrington, 1985a, b, 1986a, b). Early antisocial behavior also predicts the frequent use of drugs in adolescence (Robins, 1978; Lerner and Vicary, 1984; Simcha-Fagan et al., 1986). In their sample of 1,242
Accepted August 27, 1990. Dr. Hawkins is Professor of Social Work and Director of the Social Development Research Group. Dr. Catalan0 is Associate Professor of Social Work and Associate Director of the Social Development Research Group, and Dr. Von Cleve is Clinical Instructor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington. This research was supported by grants from the Prevention Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Burlington Northern Foundation. The authors express our sincere thanks to the students, parents, and staff of the Seattle School District who are our collaborators in this study. Reprint requests to the Social Development Research Group, XD50, University of Washington, School of Social Work, Seattle, WA 98195. 0890-8567/91/3002-0208$03.00/001991by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
208
urban black first-grade students, Kellam and Brown (1982) found a positive relationship between first-grade male aggressiveness, especially when coupied with shyness, and the frequency of substance use 10 years later. This evidence suggests that prevention programs that reduce antisocial behavior, particularly aggressive behavior in boys, during the early grades of elementary school hold promise for preventing delinquency and drug use in adolescence. Teacher and parent training have been advocated as promising approaches for reducing early antisocial behavior. The interventions tested here are based on the social development model (Hawkins and Weis, 1985) and seek to enhance prosocial development, reduce aggressive antisocial behavior, and reduce the risk for delinquency and drug abuse by promoting in families and school classrooms conditions hypothesized as necessary for social bonding. These are: opportunities for involvement in conventional activities, skills for successful involvement, and rewards for conventional behavior. It is hypothesized in the social development model that the levels of opportunities, the skills and rewards available in families and schools affect youths’ degree of attachment to family and school, their degree of commitment to their conventional lines of action within these settings, and their belief in the conventional moral and legal order of society. Following Hirschi’s (1969) empirically supported social control theory, the extent of social bonding to conventional socialization units of the family and school is expected to affect children’s risk for delinquent and other antisocial patterns of behavior in adolescence. This paper describes a field experiment in which a program of parent and teacher training was tested for shortterm effects on early antisocial behavior.
Method RESEARCH DESIGN Eight Seattle public elementary schools participated in the study. First-grade teachers and students were randomly assigned to experimental or control classrooms in six of the J . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2, March 1991
REDUCING EARLY CHILDHOOD AGGRESSION
eight schools. The other two schools were assigned to a full control or full experimental condition. In the full experimental condition school, all first-grade students and teachers were assigned to the experimental condition. All first-grade students and teachers in the full control school were assigned to the control condition. This resulted in the assignment of 11 first-grade teachers to experimental classrooms and 10 teachers to control classrooms. New students entering the six within-building design schools during the course of this study were randomly assigned to experimental or control classes. In each school, the ratio of random assignments to experimental and control classrooms was periodically adjusted to prevent the creation of unequal class sizes. Ten students in within-building design schools were transferred between the experimental and control group classrooms during the project. In the analyses, two of these students were included in the experimental condition because their parents attended a parent training class offered to experimental families. The eight remaining students whose project status changed during the study were dropped from the analysis. SAMPLEDESCRIPTION All subjects entered the first grade in the fall of 1981. Of these, 520 were in project schools in the spring of 1983 when posttest data were collected. Posttest data were obtained on 458 (88.1%) of those eligible. Table 1 shows the demographic characteristics of the subjects in the experimental and control classrooms with posttest data. The two groups were compared by sex, race, a measure of socioeconomic status (whether or not the student was eligible to receive a free lunch at school), and with whom the student lived during the study period. Slightly more control group subjects were male (50.3% versus 46.1%), eligible for free lunch (86.8% versus 84.6%), and not living with both parents (53.2% versus 49.5%). Slightly more experimental group subjects were nonwhite (55.0% versus 52.9%). There were no significant demographic differences between experimental and control groups that would preclude an analysis of differences between the groups after intervention. An analysis of student self-report data collected at the beginning of the first grade indicated that the control group subjects were slightly more conventional than the experimental group subjects at baseline. On eight of 28 self-report items, first-grade control group subjects differed significantly tp < 0.05) from experimental group subjects in a prosocial direction; significant differences were found on measures of their attachment to school, family communication, family supervision, and antisocial orientations. There were no significant differences on 20 remaining self-report pretest items. Since all baseline differences between experimental and control groups favor the control group, any posttest differences favoring the experimental group are not likely to result from selection effects or initial bias in the groups.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM The parent and teacher training interventions tested were J . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2,March 1991
TABLE1. Characteristics of Second-Grade Experimental Group and Control G r o w Subjects with Posstest Data (N = 458)
Free lunch Eligible Not eligible Sex Male Female Race Native American Asian Black Hispanic White Living with Both parents Father Mother Guardian Other
Experimental (%) ( N = 285)
Control (%) (N = 173)
84.6 15.4
86.8 13.2
46.1
53.9
50.3 49.7
6.0 15.6 31.2 2.2 45.0
2.3 16.5 32.4 1.7 47.1
50.5 1.1 40.4 2.8 5.1
46.8
2.9 41.6 2.9 5.8
designed to be developmentally appropriate for parents and teachers of first- and second-grade students. Parent Training Poor family managment practices have been identified as a factor that increases the risk that a child will become delinquent (Farrington, 1979a; McCord, 1979; Loeber and Dishion, 1983; Farrington, 1986a; Loeber and StouthamerLoeber, 1986) and abuse drugs (Penning and Barnes, 1982; Baumrind, 1983; Simcha-Fagan et al., 1986). The parent training component sought to teach parents effective family management skills. It was hypothesized that improvements in parenting practices would increase bonds of attachment between parents and children and reduce the risk of later adolescent delinquency and drug abuse. Research has shown that parents can be trained to effectively change their children’s behavior (Patterson et al., 1967; Wahler, 1969; Wittes and Radin, 1971; Patterson, 1974a, b; Forehand et al., 1975; Martin, 1977; Briar and Conte, 1978; Roberts et al., 1978; Patterson and Fleischman, 1979; Patterson, 1982). Parent training has been shown to be effective in improving parenting practices, in increasing parent-child attachment, and in reducing some delinquent behaviors among boys with conduct disorders (Patterson, 1982; Fraser et al., 1988). The parenting curriculum tested in this project, “Catch ’Em Being Good,” taught parents skills in monitoring and supervising children’s behavior, in using appropriate rewards and punishments, in using consistent discipline practices, in using effective communication skills, and involving children in family activities (Hawkins et al., 1987). To increase the involvement in the activities of the family, parents also were encouraged to create age-appropriate family roles for their children and to increase family activities and family time together.
209
HAWKINS ET AL.
Parent training was offered in seven consecutive weekly sessions to all parents whose children were assigned to experimental classrooms. The program was offered when children were in first grade and again when children were in second grade. The program used a standard skills training format including the demonstration and modeling of skills, roleplay, feedback, and homework practice assignments. Recruitment and other implementation issues associated with this parent training component are discussed elsewhere (Hawkins et al., 1987). Teacher Training
There is considerable evidence that failure in schools is positively correlated with delinquency and adolescent drug abuse (Hirschi, 1969; Jensen, 1972; Elliott and Voss, 1974; Jensen, 1976; Brooks et al., 1977; Jessor and Jessor, 1977; Kandel et al., 1978; Johnson, 1979; Gottfredson, 1981; Hawkins and Lishner, 1987) and precedes delinquency (Elliott and Voss, 1974; Bachman et al., 1979; Phillips and Kelly, 1979). Moreover, antisocial behavior in early grades appears to be predictive of academic problems (Feldhusen et al., 1973; Kellam et al., 1982). Delinquency also appears to be linked to a low degree of attachment to teachers and commitment to school and education (Hirschi, 1969; Kelly and Balch, 1971; Hindelang, 1973; Elliott and Voss, 1974; Lawrence, 1985; Hawkins and Lishner, 1987). Teacher training designed to increase academic performance, reduce antisocial behavior, and increase bonds of attachment and commitment to school should directly affect these schoolrelated risk factors for adolescent delinquency and drug abuse. The experimental program tested here trained teachers in the use of proactive classroom management methods, cognitive social skills training, and interactive teaching methods. These methods of instruction are hypothesized to promote the conditions necessary for social bonding between youth and school by increasing all students’ opportunities for academic success and participation in the classroom (Catalan0 and Hawkins, 1986), by increasing the skills necessary for successful participation, and by providing consistent rewards for classroom participation in desired behaviors (Hawkins and Lishner, 1987). Proactive classroom management is designed to prevent behavioral problems before they occur by teaching basic skills for appropriate classroom participation (Hawkins and Lam, 1987). Teachers learn to provide clear instructions and expectations about attendance, classroom procedures, and rules. Teachers learn to use the least disruptive interventions to maintain order in the classroom without interrupting instruction (Cummings, 1983). Proactive classroom management also includes the frequent use of encouragement and praise to reinforce desired behaviors in the classroom and to increase the social bonding of the student to the teacher and school. This method of instruction is expected to reduce early antisocial behavior in the classroom by giving teachers skills in extinguishing disruptive behavior without resorting to punitive sanctions and by rewarding the students for prosocial behavior. 210
Social skills training teaches communication, decision making, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills. The curriculum used was Interpersonal Cognitive Problem Solving (ICPS) developed by Spivack and Shure (1982). This curriculum seeks to increase students’ problem-solving ability as a means of improving their social adjustment (Shure and Spivack, 1980). First-grade teachers were instructed in the use of the social skills lessons in this curriculum to teach children how to think through alternative solutions to problems. ICPS seeks to reduce early antisocial behavior by increasing children’s skills in resolving conflicts prosocially. ICPS has shown positive effects in reducing aggression and impulsive behavior among students in primary grades (Shure and Spivack, 1981). Interactive teaching is based on the premise that, under appropriate instructional conditions, virtually all students can succeed in school (Bloom, 1976). In interactive teaching, students must master and demonstrate an understanding of clearly specified learning objectives before moving on to more advanced work. Grades are determined by this demonstration rather than by comparison to other students. Teachers are trained to monitor all students to assess their comprehension of material and progress in the learning process and to give small incremental rewards to reinforce performance (Hawkins and Lam, 1987; Hawkins et al., 1988). It is hypothesized that the use of this instructional technique will help students develop and maintain interest in the educational material and will decrease off-‘task and disruptive behavior. First-grade teachers in the experimental classrooms were trained in proactive classroom management and social skills training before the first year of the experimental program. Second-grade teachers of the experimental classrooms were trained in the use of interactive teaching methods and proactive classroom management before the subjects’ entry into the second grade. INTERVENTION IMPLEMENTATION Parent Training
Parents of 122 (43.3%) of the experimental group subjects, for whom teacher posttest Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) data were available, attended one or more “Catch ’Em Being Good” parent training classes. Some parents attended more than one series of classes. The number of classes attended over the four quarters in which these classes were offered ranged from 1 to 20, with a mean number of classes attended of 5.4 and a median of 5.5 per attending family. Of the 122 experimental group families attending parent training, 48 (39%) included a father who attended alone or with the mother. The number of parent training classes attended by each parent was analyzed to identify the possible effects of the extent of training received on the outcomes measured in this study. The number of classes attended was not found to be related to posttest scale scores on the teacher CBCL, with one exception. Results showed a significant positive relationship only between the selfdestructive scale for females and the number of classes J . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2, March I991
REDUCING EARLY CHILDHOOD AGGRESSION
parents attended (Adj. RZ = 0.214, p < 0.005, Beta = 0.485). However, the causal direction of this relationship is unknown. It is possible that parents whose daughters were evidencing higher levels of self-destructiveness were more likely than others to attend training. This selection threat is controlled in the analyses reported in the remainder of this paper. Teacher Training
Two data collection instruments documented the extent to which experimental practices were implemented in the experimental and control classrooms. The first instrument was a Teacher Self-Report checklist completed weekly .,The purpose of the checklist was to provide the project staff with information regarding the implementation of program elements in the experimental classrooms. With these teachercompleted checklists, the project staff was able to assess the need for and provide additional technical assistance to the experimental group teachers during the project. The major measure of implementation of the experimental teacher practices was a structured observation system, the Interactive Teaching Map (Kerr et al., 1985). Teacher practices and student behaviors were observed and recorded by trained observers in both the experimental and control classrooms. Each classroom was observed for one 50-minute observation period for two successive days during the fall and again in the spring of the academic year when the subjects were in second grade. Separate observations of students and teachers were made and recorded every 60 seconds for each class period observed. Observation data were not collected in the 1981 to 1982 school year. An analysis of the structured observational data showed that the second-grade teachers of experimental classes implemented the experimental teaching practices significantly more than the control group teachers. The experimental teaching practices have been shown in other analyses to be positively correlated with the amount of time students are actively engaged in learning tasks (r = 0.47) and negatively correlated with students’ off-task behavior (r = -0.30) in the classroom (Hawkins and Lam, 1987). OUTCOME MEASURES Subject outcomes were measured at the end of the second grade. The Teacher Report Form of the CBCL was used to assess the effects of the experimental intervention. The CBCL is a standardized instrument developed by Achenbach to measure children’s antisocial and problem behaviors. It has documented reliability and validity (Achenbach and Edelbrock, 1983, 1986). The teacher rating the child must have known the student being rated for a minimum of 2 months, precluding pretesting using the CBCL at first-grade entry in this study. The 119 items of the CBCL were combined into the eight component and two composite standardized scales created by Achenbach and Edelbrock (1983). The scales are made up of slightly different items for boys and girls. The component scales for boys are Anxious, Social Withdrawal, Unpopular, Self-Destructive, Obsessive-Compulsive, InatJ . Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 30:2,March 1991
TABLE2. Second-Grade Experimental-Control Means Comparisons for Males on Teacher-Rated Child Behavior Checklist, Adjusted for Eligibility for Free Lunch ProRram Experimental Scale Anxious Social withdrawal Unpopular Self-destructive Obsessive-compulsive Inattentive Nervous-overactive Aggressive Externalizing antisocial Internalizing antisocial
5i
N
1.17 1.44 1.23 0.67 0.80 7.59 1.62 8.78 15.55 2.39
130 131 127 130 130 131 130 130 130 130
* p < 0.05.
Control X N 1.55 2.07 1.33 0.95 0.96 8.54 1.91 13.38 21.51 3.20
88 88 88 88 88 88 88 87 87 88
F 1S O 2.86
< I 1.63
< I
