Research

Youth Violence Prevention Group: Projects


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Healthy Teens

The goal of Healthy Teens is to examine protective factors that influence the developmental trajectories (i.e., patterns of continuity or patterns of change over time) that children and adolescents follow from 6 th to 11 th grade, in relation to single and combined violence-related behaviors, including aggression toward peers, delinquency, dating violence, weapon carrying, drug and alcohol use, suicide thoughts and attempts, and school dropout.

This study proposes to follow into high school a cohort of approximately 800 middle school students who have been evaluated in 6th, 7th and 8th grade as part of a CDC-funded project, the GREAT Schools and Families Program. The specific objectives are to examine developmental trajectories; identify meaningful transitions and turning points; examine protective factors related to individual cognitions and environmental influences from the family, peers, and school that influence the developmental trajectories; evaluate whether and how changes in violence-related behaviors are interrelated; understand the meaning of different forms of violence-related behaviors from the perspectives of the participants themselves; and explore the perceptions of participants and the environmental circumstances related to desistance from or movement toward aggression, in regard to specific protective factors.

To achieve these objectives, Healthy Teens will: 1) administer a laptop student survey every spring; 2) request that teachers complete annually a standardized and nationally normed student behavioral rating on participating students (BASC); 3) collect archival data (attendance, standardized test scores, and discipline records); 4) survey and conduct semi-structured interviews with students who drop out of school; and 5) conduct interviews and focus groups with students to understand the meaning of violence- related behaviors and of the factors that protect them from aggression. This mixed method approach will provide a comprehensive and in-depth description of the most significant factors that protect students from violence and their impact on trajectories and turning points.

Funding agency: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Years: 2005-2008


GREAT Schools and Families

 Project Overview
In October 1999, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded a multi-site violence-prevention program for middle schools, known as GREAT Schools and Families. The goal of this prevention study is to evaluate the effectiveness of violence prevention programs. Common intervention and evaluation procedures will be implemented at four sites. The four participating universities are The University of Georgia, University of Illinois at Chicago, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Duke University.

The program includes the following components:

1. GREAT Teachers
This teacher training comprises an initial 12-hour training for all sixth-grade teachers, followed by ongoing teacher support (twice-a-month meetings) to discuss problems related to the reduction and prevention of aggression.

2. GREAT Students
This violence-prevention curriculum includes 20 lessons (approx. 40 minutes each) and is taught once a week to all sixth graders during the regular school day.

3. GREAT Families
This program is offered to the families of 6 th-grade students who have been identified by their teachers as both highly aggressive/disruptive and influential among their peers. Five to six families meet once a week after school for 15 weeks with a trained family therapist.

In order to evaluate whether or not the prevention program is effective in reducing students’ aggressive behaviors, 9 schools in Georgia will be randomly assigned to one of the four groups:

   1. Total program (teacher training, student curriculum, and family program)
   2. Teacher training and student curriculum only
   3. Family program only
   4. No program

Evaluation
GREAT Schools and Families is committed to evaluating the impact of the GREAT Students, GREAT Teachers, and GREAT Families programs. To do so, information is gathered from students, parents, teachers, and school administrators.

Selected students are asked to complete computer-assisted questionnaires at school. School records, such as attendance, standardized test scores, and discipline records, as well as juvenile court records are collected on these students. Selected parents are invited to be interviewed by project staff at home or another convenient location. Teachers are asked to complete surveys and to report on the behavior of selected students. Additional information about the school is provided by school administrators and school observations.


I-CARE

Project Overview
The goal of this study is to evaluate the process and impact of training fourth- and fifth-grade teachers to promote a positive classroom climate, to increase connectedness with students, and to teach a curriculum that focuses on developing students' social competence. Teachers receive a 12-hour workshop followed by ten support groups (1 hour each) preparing them to deliver 20 lessons to students (45 mins. each). The specific objectives for the teachers are to increase teachers’ knowledge, self-efficacy and skills for the development of social competence, for increasing connectedness to students, and for the reducing bullying among their students. The specific objectives for students are to: 1) enhance social competence, 2) reduce bullying and victimization, 3) reduce classroom discipline problems, and 4) improve academic performance.

Evaluation
Teachers complete a survey; consented fourth and fifth graders (approx. 700 students) complete a 45-minute survey; and a behavioral survey on each consented child is completed by a teacher. All surveys are administered twice, once at the beginning of the school year and then again near the end of the school year. Information on the academic performance, attendance and discipline records of consented students is requested from the school.

Funding agency: Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Years: 2002-2005



ACT EARLY (Advancing the Competencies of Teachers for Early Interventions with At-Risk Children)

Dr. Horne was the Principal Investigator (1996-1999) and Co-Principal Investigator (1999-2003) of ACT EARLY, a project funded by the US Department of Education. This longitudinal project has yielded important contributions for assessment and treatment of behavioral and emotional problems in children.

The investigators used the Behavior Assessment System for Children (BASC) to develop typologies that involve moving from traditional special education classifications (a child is either eligible or ineligible for services based upon assessment) to identifying adaptive skills and behavioral deficits of children so that teachers and others may build upon a child’s strengths and areas of need, rather than focusing upon traditional diagnostic categories. Seven clusters were identified: well adapted, average, learning disorders, physical complaints/worry, mildly disruptive, disruptive behavior disorder, and severe psychopathology.

Most relevant to the proposed study, teachers have completed a BASC six times (every fall and spring) for all participating students in GREAT Schools and Families, and we plan to continue to use the BASC in Healthy Teens. The ACT EARLY methodology may be used to develop clustered typologies of students, which may lead to identifying particular protective and risk factors related to each typology.


Bullies, Victims, and Bystanders(1994-present)

The bully project has examined risk and protective factors related to bullying and victimization, as well as developed a number of interventions for preventing and reducing bullying in schools. Two books have been published.



Preventing Aggression in the Classroom: A Case Study of Extraordinary Teachers

The purpose of this case study, conducted by Katherine Darby Hein under the direction of Dr. Pamela Orpinas, was to describe the strategies used by school teachers identified as extraordinary at preventing aggressive behavior in the classroom.

The results of the study reveal that a positive classroom climate was the strongest indicator for the prevention of aggression, and that teachers successfully created a positive climate by using positive classroom management methods, challenging students academically, having high academic and behavioral expectations of students, trusting students, allowing students to meet needs in the classroom, providing supplies, respecting students, and not tolerating student disrespect. The teachers also used culturally relevant teaching strategies to prevent aggressive behavior, and intervened swiftly in a solution-focused way when aggressive behaviors did happen. The teachers involved in the study believed that these strategies can be learned by other teachers to prevent aggressive classroom behavior.


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