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01-12-2008

The Multisite Violence Prevention Project: Impact of a Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Program on Social-Cognitive Outcomes

Author: The Multisite Violence Prevention Project

Published in: Prevention Science | Issue 4/2008

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of a universal school-based violence prevention program on social-cognitive factors associated with aggression and nonviolent behavior in early adolescence. The effects of the universal intervention were evaluated within the context of a design in which two cohorts of students at 37 schools from four sites (N = 5,581) were randomized to four conditions: (a) a universal intervention that involved implementing a student curriculum and teacher training with sixth grade students and teachers; (b) a selective intervention in which a family intervention was implemented with a subset of sixth grade students exhibiting high levels of aggression and social influence; (c) a combined intervention condition; and (d) a no-intervention control condition. Short-term and long-term (i.e., 2-year post-intervention) universal intervention effects on social-cognitive factors targeted by the intervention varied as a function of students’ pre-intervention level of risk. High-risk students benefited from the intervention in terms of decreases in beliefs and attitudes supporting aggression, and increases in self-efficacy, beliefs and attitudes supporting nonviolent behavior. Effects on low-risk students were in the opposite direction. The differential pattern of intervention effects for low- and high-risk students may account for the absence of main effects in many previous evaluations of universal interventions for middle school youth. These findings have important research and policy implications for efforts to develop effective violence prevention programs.

Because nine schools were recruited at the Georgia site, random assignment resulted in two schools in three of the conditions and three schools assigned to the selective intervention condition.

Responses were screened for patterns that were clearly implausible. Two reviewers examined the data from students who gave the same response to every item in a scale or patterned responses (e.g., 1,2,3,2,1) throughout a scale, across multiple scales. The reviewers independently considered the plausibility of the patterns, the number of scales with implausible patterns, and the time taken to complete each scale, thereby identifying cases that each deemed problematic. The two reviewers then discussed these cases and came to consensus regarding which cases should be excluded from analyses. This resulted in the screening out of 10 cases or less from each wave.

This has an advantage over simpler models based on only the first two waves of data in that the inclusion of the additional waves of posttest data provides a more accurate estimate of each individual’s score at the end of the intervention year by making use of all available data.

Random effects were specified for intercepts and slopes at the student level, and for intercepts at the school level. The quadratic and fall-to-spring indicator were treated as fixed effects to facilitate the interpretation of intervention effects on linear slopes.

Degrees of freedom for main effects of the school-level variables (i.e., condition and site) were set at 30 (37 schools − 3 for condition − 3 for sites − 1 for intercept). Degrees of freedom for other effects were set at the number of individuals minus the number of individual-level terms and interactions in the model minus 1.

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Title: The Multisite Violence Prevention Project: Impact of a Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Program on Social-Cognitive Outcomes
Author: The Multisite Violence Prevention Project
Publication date: 01-12-2008
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Prevention Science / Issue 4/2008
Print ISSN: 1389-4986
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-008-0101-1

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

The Multisite Violence Prevention Project: Impact of a Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Program on Social-Cognitive Outcomes

Abstract

At a glance: The STEP trials

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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