Duncan Robert, Washburn Isaac J, Lewis Kendra M, Bavarian Niloofar, DuBois David L, Acock Alan C, Vuchinich Samuel, Flay Brian R
Human Development and Family Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
School of Education, University of California, Irvine, 2066 Education, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
Prev Sci. 2017 Feb;18(2):214-224. doi: 10.1007/s11121-016-0745-1.
Behavioral trajectories during middle childhood are predictive of consequential outcomes later in life (e.g., substance abuse, violence). Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs are designed to promote trajectories that reflect both growth in positive behaviors and inhibited development of negative behaviors. The current study used growth mixture models to examine effects of the Positive Action (PA) program on behavioral trajectories of social-emotional and character development (SECD) and misconduct using data from a cluster-randomized trial that involved 14 schools and a sample of predominately low-income, urban youth followed from 3rd through 8th grade. For SECD, findings indicated that PA was similarly effective at improving trajectories within latent classes characterized as "high/declining" and "low/stable". Favorable program effects were likewise evident to a comparable degree for misconduct across observed latent classes that reflected "low/rising" and "high/rising" trajectories. These findings suggest that PA and perhaps other school-based universal SEL programs have the potential to yield comparable benefits across subgroups of youth with differing trajectories of positive and negative behaviors, making them promising strategies for achieving the intended goal of school-wide improvements in student outcomes.
童年中期的行为轨迹可预测日后生活中的重要结果（如药物滥用、暴力行为）。社会情感学习（SEL）项目旨在促进那些既反映积极行为增长又抑制消极行为发展的轨迹。本研究使用增长混合模型，利用一项整群随机试验的数据，检验积极行动（PA）项目对社会情感和品格发展（SECD）以及不当行为的行为轨迹的影响。该试验涉及14所学校，样本主要是低收入城市青年，从三年级到八年级进行跟踪研究。对于SECD，研究结果表明，PA在改善被归类为“高/下降”和“低/稳定”的潜在类别中的轨迹方面同样有效。在反映“低/上升”和“高/上升”轨迹的观察到的潜在类别中，PA对不当行为也有类似程度的有利项目效果。这些发现表明，PA以及其他可能的基于学校的通用SEL项目有可能在具有不同正负行为轨迹的青年亚群体中产生类似的益处，使其成为实现全校学生成绩改善这一预期目标的有前景的策略。
