The moderating effects of school resources on the impact of a school-based intervention on the social information-processing skills of third graders in rural China.

Using a school-based intervention, Let's Be Friends (LBF), designed to promote the social information-processing (SIP) skills of third-grade children in rural China, the specific aim of this study was to assess the moderating effects of school characteristics on program outcomes. We systematically tested the moderating effects of six school-resource variables (i.e., student-teacher ratio, school size, number of library books per student, number of computers per 100 students, percentage of teachers with middle- and high-level titles, and percentage of teachers with high-level title or "backbone" recognition) on outcomes in a controlled trial of LBF program. School resources (i.e., small school size, low student-teacher ratio, and more teachers with high-level title or backbone) were associated with SIP skill acquisition, reduced aggressive behavior, and higher cognitive concentration. School contextual characteristics condition the impact of social-emotional education programs in Chinese rural primary schools.

Exploring the relationship between welfare participation in childhood and depression in adulthood in the United States.

OBJECTIVE: Depression is a serious mental health disorder, and untangling its causal agents is a major public health priority in the United States. This study examines the relationship between participating in welfare programs during childhood and experiencing depression during young adulthood. METHOD: This study used wave I and IV data from the Add Health (N = 15,701). Multiple imputation is used to deal with missing data. Propensity score matching is used to reduce the selection bias, and then multiple regressions were used to examine the welfare participation and depression relationships. RESULTS: Overall, young adults from welfare-recipient families reported significantly higher depression scores, rather than the clinical diagnosis of depression. Subgroup analyses showed only the poor group had significantly higher depression scores, whereas only the near-poor group had a significantly diagnosed depression outcome. Additionally, significantly higher depression scores were found for female youth from welfare-recipient families. However, no significant differences were found between the gender groups regarding diagnosed depression. DISCUSSION: Using welfare participation as an economic marker, the subgroup analyses help to identify target populations for future intervention. Implications of this study will be of interest to policy makers and have value for informing policy decisions.

Going Global: A Model for Evaluating Empirically Supported Family-Based Interventions in New Contexts.

The spread of evidence-based practice throughout the world has resulted in the wide adoption of empirically supported interventions (ESIs) and a growing number of controlled trials of imported and culturally adapted ESIs. This article is informed by outcome research on family-based interventions including programs listed in the American Blueprints Model and Promising Programs. Evidence from these controlled trials is mixed and, because it is comprised of both successful and unsuccessful replications of ESIs, it provides clues for the translation of promising programs in the future. At least four explanations appear plausible for the mixed results in replication trials. One has to do with methodological differences across trials. A second deals with ambiguities in the cultural adaptation process. A third explanation is that ESIs in failed replications have not been adequately implemented. A fourth source of variation derives from unanticipated contextual influences that might affect the effects of ESIs when transported to other cultures and countries. This article describes a model that allows for the differential examination of adaptations of interventions in new cultural contexts.

Social information-processing skills training to promote social competence and prevent aggressive behavior in the third grades.

This article describes a school-based study designed to promote social competence and reduce aggressive behavior by strengthening children's skills in processing social information and regulating emotions. Three successive cohorts of 3rd graders (N = 548) from 2 schools participated. In 2000-2001, children received a routine health curriculum; in 2001-2002, students received the Making Choices: Social Problem Solving Skills for Children (MC) program; and in 2002-2003, children received MC supplemented with teacher and parent activities. Compared with children in the routine condition, children in both MC conditions were rated lower on posttest social and overt aggression and higher on social competence. Moreover, they scored significantly higher on an information-processing skills posttest. The findings suggest that prevention programs can strengthen social- emotional skills and produce changes in aggressive behavior.

Educational resilience among youth at risk.

Educational experts and others recognize the importance of early school experiences on later educational outcomes. Following a sample of youth based on 692 files from low-income, single parent families over time, from one urban school district in the Southeastern United States, 1989-1990 to 1996-1997, we apply event history analytic techniques to examine the relationship between first grade retention and completing high school. The findings indicate that being retained in the first grade increases the risk of dropping out of high school years later. The results also show a link between retention, extracurricular activity participation, and high school completion. The risk of dropping out is lower for those youth who were retained and were involved in activities during high school. The implication is that educational trajectories can be redirected such that positive educational outcomes can occur.