School-Based Interventions for Aggression and Defiance in Youth: A Framework for Evidence-Based Practice

Organizational and coalition strategies for youth violence prevention: A longitudinal mixed-methods study

This longitudinal study identifies espoused change orientations and actual youth violence prevention (YVP) practices over five years by 99 public and nonprofit organizations in one city. Annual key informant interviews provided both qualitative and quantitative data, including organizational collaborative network data. Data were also obtained on participation in a citywide YVP coalition, juvenile arrests and court referrals. On average, organizations both in and outside the coalition adopted a problem-focused as often as a strengths-based change orientation, and were only marginally more oriented toward empowering community members than professionals and changing communities than individual youth. Most surprisingly, YVP coalition members adopted more of a tertiary (reactive/rehabilitative) than primary prevention orientation compared to nonmembers. The number of different YVP strategies implemented increased over five years from mainly positive youth development and education interventions to those strategies plus mentoring, youth activities, events and programs, and counseling youth. Network analysis reveals dense initial collaboration with no critical gatekeepers and coalition participants more central to the city-wide organizational network. Coalition participation and total network collaboration declined in Years 3-5. Youth violence arrests and court referrals also declined. The coalition was marginally involved in successful community-collaborative, school-based interventions and other strategies adopted, and it disbanded a year after federal funding ended. Despite, or possibly due to, both national and local government participation, the coalition missed opportunities to engage in collective advocacy for local YVP policy changes. Coalitions should help nonprofit and public organizations develop more effective change orientations and implement commensurate strategies at the community level.

Assessing the Feasibility of Peer Coach Training for Disruptive Middle School Youth: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study

In U.S. schools, disruptive behavior is by far the primary reason for disciplinary referrals, including suspensions and expulsions. School-based interventions targeting disruptive behavior usually position struggling youth as treatment recipients and neglect the psychosocial benefits of helping others. In this mixed methods pilot study, we evaluate the preliminary feasibility and acceptability of Peer Coach Training (PCT), a novel, school-based intervention for youth referred for disruptive behavior that deemphasizes the youth's existing problems and focuses instead on training youth to help their peers. We used quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of PCT on two cohorts of disruptive youth (N = 9) in an urban middle school in Southern California. Youth and teachers completed assessments at baseline, post-treatment, and three-month follow-up. At posttreatment and follow-up, youth reported significant reductions in externalizing problems, as well as reductions in conduct problems, attention problems, and aggressive behavior; in contrast, teacher ratings yielded null findings. Qualitative interviews revealed that youth and teachers observed positive changes in peer interactions, self-confidence, and classroom participation efforts. Youth satisfaction data indicated that youth enjoyed participating in PCT and would highly recommend it to their friends. Results from this pilot evaluation suggest that training youth to help their peers is an appealing, feasible, and promising strategy for reducing disruptive behavior, however, controlled trials are needed to provide evidence for treatment efficacy.

The Effect of a Theory-Based Educational Intervention on Reducing Aggressive Behavior among Male Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial Study

Introduction

One of the most challenging issues in public health is preventing aggression and violent behavior, generally in the adolescent population. Intervention studies in this field, especially in Iran, were few. Moreover, their findings are controversial. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) on reducing aggression among male students.

Method

This study used a randomized controlled trial design. The sample comprised 98 middle school students aged between 13 and 16 years (14.28 ± 0.7). Educational intervention for the experimental group consisted of five sessions of 45-60 minutes. Data were collected using two self-administered questionnaires to measure aggression and constructs of TPB. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, independent t-test, and chi-square test at a significance level of 0.05.

Results

After the intervention, the experimental group showed a significant increase in all TPB constructs except the subjective norms, compared to the control group (p < 0.001). After two months of intervention, the mean score of the aggression behaviors in students in the experimental group showed a remarkable improvement in the experimental group, while the control group showed no significant difference.

Conclusion

The findings of this study showed that the theory-based educational intervention was effective on the improvement of aggressive behavior. To achieve a significant change in perceived mental norms, more training sessions are recommended, and emphasis is placed on educating parents, peers, and school staff.

Explosive Outbursts at School

Explosive outbursts (EO) by students are an intensely distressing experience for that student as well as for all school staff and students present during the outburst. These EO are characterized by rapid escalations, usually far out of proportion to precipitating events, may include significant verbal and/or physical aggression, require intensive staff intervention, are often difficult for the student to process, and are typically recurrent. These explosions cross multiple psychiatric and educational diagnostic categories and require diverse interventions to address behavioral, emotional, impulsive, and sensory components. Interventions for each stage of an EO can be used to deescalate these events.

Community-Based Prevalence of Externalizing and Internalizing Disorders among School-Aged Children and Adolescents in Four Geographically Dispersed School Districts in the United States

The Project to Learn About Youth-Mental Health (PLAY-MH; 2014-2018) is a school-based, two-stage study designed to estimate the prevalence of selected mental disorders among K-12 students in four U.S.-based sites (Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and South Carolina). In Stage 1, teachers completed validated screeners to determine student risk status for externalizing or internalizing problems or tics; the percentage of students identified as being at high risk ranged from 17.8% to 34.4%. In Stage 2, parents completed a structured diagnostic interview to determine whether their child met criteria for fourteen externalizing or internalizing disorders; weighted prevalence estimates of meeting criteria for any disorder were similar in three sites (14.8%-17.8%) and higher in Ohio (33.3%). PLAY-MH produced point-in-time estimates of mental disorders in K-12 students, which may be used to supplement estimates from other modes of mental disorder surveillance and inform mental health screening and healthcare and educational services.

Impact of a School-Based, Multi-Tiered Emotional and Behavioral Health Crisis Intervention on School Safety and Discipline

Schools across the United States are struggling with how to formulate comprehensive and effective programs to address the mental health needs of students and to promote school safety. This study, funded as part of the National Institute of Justice Comprehensive School Safety Initiative, employed a randomized controlled study design to evaluate the impact of a multi-component package of crisis prevention and response interventions on school safety and discipline outcomes, including suspensions, office discipline referrals, bullying reports, juvenile justice referrals, threat assessments, and follow-up procedures. Forty schools participated, all in a culturally diverse Mid-Atlantic, US school system spanning urban, suburban, and rural areas. The Emotional and Behavioral Health-Crisis Response and Prevention (EBH-CRP) intervention is a comprehensive training, organizational, and support protocol for school and community stakeholders aimed at increasing competence in preventing and responding to student EBH crises using multiple evidence-informed strategies that address emotional and behavioral health concerns across the continuum of supports. Results indicate that the EBH-CRP intervention had a significant positive effect on suspensions, office discipline referrals, and juvenile justice referrals for secondary schools. In addition, the intervention had positive effects on the number of bullying reports overall, with a particularly strong impact on primary schools. The intervention also had positive effects in maintaining more use of threat assessment and follow-up procedures. Although the intervention had a significant positive effect on secondary school-level suspensions, there was no impact on racial/ethnic disproportionality rates for this outcome. Implications for school safety prevention are discussed.

Lifetime caregiver strain among mothers of adolescents and young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The lifetime maternal caregiver strain (CS) associated with raising a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) into adolescence and young adulthood was examined in the Pittsburgh ADHD Longitudinal Study (PALS), a longitudinal study of individuals diagnosed with ADHD in childhood and recontacted in adolescence and young adulthood for yearly follow-up. Mothers of adolescents/young adults with (n = 364, 89.6% male; M_age = 19.79) and without childhood ADHD (n = 240, 88.8% male; M_age = 18.97) rated their lifetime maternal CS at Wave 3. Adolescent/young adult (AYA) ADHD and ODD severity measured at Wave 1, AYA delinquency measured at Wave 2, and school disciplinary actions combined from Waves 1 and 2 were explored as mediators of the association between childhood ADHD and lifetime maternal CS at Wave 3 using path analysis. AYA gender and age, parental marital status, maternal depression and ADHD, and highest parental education were included as covariates. Greater lifetime CS was reported among mothers of adolescents/young adults with versus without childhood ADHD. In the mediation model, direct effects of childhood ADHD on AYA ADHD and ODD severity, delinquency, and school discipline problems emerged, and direct effects of AYA ODD severity, delinquency, and school discipline problems on lifetime CS emerged. AYA ODD, delinquency, and school discipline mediated the association between childhood ADHD and lifetime maternal CS. These findings extend research on childhood ADHD to identify AYA sequelae contributing to maternal CS. Future research on the transaction between AYA functional impairment and maternal CS across the transition from adolescence into adulthood is needed to clarify opportunities for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Measurement Invariance of a Direct Behavior Rating Multi Item Scale across Occasions

Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) as a behavioral progress monitoring tool can be designed as longitudinal assessment with only short intervals between measurement points. The reliability of these instruments has been mostly evaluated in observational studies with small samples based on generalizability theory. However, for a standardized use in the pedagogical field, a larger and broader sample is required in order to assess measurement invariance between different participant groups and over time. Therefore, we constructed a DBR, the Questionnaire for Monitoring Behavior in Schools (QMBS) with multiple items to measure the occurrence of specific externalizing and internalizing student classroom behaviors on a Likert scale (1 = never to 7 = always). In a pilot study, two trained raters observed 16 primary education students and rated the student behavior over all items with a satisfactory reliability. In the main study, 108 regular primary school students, 97 regular secondary students, and 14 students in a clinical setting were rated daily over one week (five measurement points). Item response theory (IRT) analyses confirmed the technical adequacy of the instrument and latent growth models demonstrated the instrument’s stability over time. Further development of the instrument and study designs to implement DBRs is discussed.