Research Findings - Prevention Research
The Negative Impacts of Starting Middle School in Sixth Grade
This study examined administrative data on public school students in North Carolina. The sample included data from 99 public school districts, 243 schools with 44
Research Findings - Prevention Research
The Negative Impacts of Starting Middle School in Sixth Grade
This study examined administrative data on public school students in North Carolina. The sample included data from 99 public school districts, 243 schools with 44,709 sixth graders. Just 11 percent of the students in the sample were in elementary schools. Analyses revealed that sixth grade students attending middle schools were much more likely to be cited for discipline problems than those attending elementary school. That difference remained after adjusting for the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the students and their schools. Furthermore, the higher infraction rates recorded by sixth graders who were placed in middle school persisted at least through ninth grade. An analysis of end-of-grade test scores provides complementary findings. A plausible explanation is that sixth graders are at an especially impressionable age; in middle school, the exposure to older peers and the relative freedom from supervision have deleterious consequences. These findings are relevant to the current debate over the best school configuration for incorporating the middle grades. Based on their results, the authors suggest that there is a strong argument for separating sixth graders from older adolescents. Cook, P.J., MacCoun, R., Muschkin, C., and Vigdor, J. The Negative Impacts of Starting Middle School in Sixth Grade. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 27(1), pp. 104-121, 2008.
Fast Track Randomized Controlled Trial to Prevent Externalizing Psychiatric Disorders: Findings From Grades 3 to 9
This study tests the efficacy of the Fast Track Program in preventing antisocial behavior and psychiatric disorders among groups varying in initial risk. Schools within four sites (Durham, NC; Nashville, TN; Seattle, WA; and rural central Pennsylvania) were selected as high-risk institutions based on neighborhood crime and poverty levels. After screening 9,594 kindergarteners in these schools, 891 highest risk and moderate-risk children (69% male and 51% African American) were randomly assigned by matched sets of schools to intervention or control conditions. The 10-year intervention (begun in 1991 with three yearly cohorts) included parent behavior-management training, child social-cognitive skills training, reading tutoring, home visiting, mentoring, and a universal classroom curriculum. Outcomes included criterion counts and psychiatric diagnoses after grades 3, 6, and 9 for conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, any externalizing disorder, and self-reported antisocial behavior. Grade 9 outcomes were assessed between 2000 and 2003, depending upon cohort. Significant interaction effects between intervention and initial risk level were found at each age but most strongly after grade 9. Assignment to intervention had a significant positive effect in lowering criterion count scores and diagnoses for conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and any externalizing disorder, and lowering antisocial behavior scores, but only among those at highest risk initially. Prevention of serious antisocial behavior can be efficacious across sex, ethnicity, and urban/rural residence, but screening is essential. Bierman, K.L., Coie, J.D., Dodge, K.A., Foster, E.M., Greenberg, M.T., Lochman, J.E., McMahon, R.J., and Pinderhughes, E.E. Fast Track Randomized Controlled Trial to Prevent Externalizing Psychiatric Disorders: Findings from Grades 3 to 9. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 46(10), pp. 1250-1262, 2007.
Overcoming Adolescents' Resistance to Anti-Inhalant Appeals
This research was concerned with factors that affect adolescents' evaluations of persuasive anti-inhalant messages and the association of these evaluations with usage intentions. Sixth and 7th graders (N=894) received anti-inhalant messages that varied as a result of the factorial combination of message source (doctor or peer), suggested harm (social or physical), and target (message was addressed directly or indirectly to receivers). Manipulated variables were crossed with inhalant-user status (resolute nonuser, vulnerable nonuser, and user). Significant target and status effects on message evaluation were found. Significant interactions of status with each of the manipulated variables also emerged. Results indicated that indirectly targeted messages were significantly more effective than targeted ones. However, this result was evident only among users and vulnerable nonusers. These groups, which would be expected to be the most resistant to anti-inhalant appeals, were significantly more influenced by indirect messaging than when messages were addressed directly to them. This result suggests that indirectly targeted messages have a greater chance of success when the messages' audiences are resistant to the topic under consideration. The simple effects analyses showed that resolute nonusers almost invariably responded more favorably to the messages than either users or vulnerable nonusers. Their lack of discrimination in response to the experimental condition indicates their willingness to accept anti-inhalant messages delivered directly or indirectly, by peer or adult, threatening social or physical harms. The ad appeals were not counter-attitudinal for this group, but rather reinforcing, and possibly helped bolster a pre-established position. Implications for the application of these findings are clear. In health communication appeals, it is imperative to identify the audience we wish to influence. The consisten