The effectiveness of two universal preventive interventions in reducing children's externalizing behavior: a cluster...

Area of Science:

• Child Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Educational Psychology

Background:

• Externalizing behaviors in elementary school children pose significant challenges.
• Universal prevention programs aim to mitigate these behaviors early.
• Evaluating long-term effectiveness of such programs is crucial for evidence-based practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the long-term effectiveness of a school-based social competence intervention and a parental training intervention on externalizing behavior in elementary school children.
• To compare the effects of individual interventions and a combined approach against a control group.
• To examine outcomes at the end of the program and a 2-year follow-up.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 1,675 first graders across 56 Swiss elementary schools.
• Interventions included a school-based social competence program, parental training, both, or a control condition.
• Data on externalizing psychopathology and social competence were collected from children, caregivers, and teachers at multiple time points.

Main Results:

• The social competence intervention demonstrated greater long-term positive effects on teacher- and parent-rated externalizing behavior compared to the control group.
• No statistically significant positive effects were observed for most other outcome measures across the different intervention groups.
• The parental training intervention and the combined intervention did not show significant long-term benefits over the control.

Conclusions:

• School-based social competence programs may offer some sustained benefits for reducing externalizing behaviors in young children.
• The effectiveness of universal prevention programs, particularly parental training components, requires further investigation.
• Findings suggest a need for refined strategies in early childhood behavior intervention to achieve broader, statistically significant positive outcomes.