Ongoing Research
Preventive Intervention for Youth Violence: Coping Power
PI: John E. Lochman, Ph.D.
Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Coping Power, a prevention program designed to reduce children’s aggression during the preadolescent years and to prevent youth violence and other antisocial outcomes. Two of the primary gaps in the existing preventive intervention literature, which are addressed in this study, are a lack of contextual focus by intervention programs on the children’s social context at school and a lack of focus on how children’s behavioral gains can be maintained, rather than deteriorating, following the end of intervention. To address these gaps, two components have been added to the existing Coping Power intervention, which has already demonstrated some effectiveness. These components include (a) training and consultation with teachers and (b) a booster intervention explicitly deigned to reinforce skills and gains already attained in the program.
Field Trial Effects of the Coping Power Program
PI: John E. Lochman, Ph.D.
Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
This study is a field trial designed to examine whether the Coping Power prevention program, which has been demonstrated to have preventive effects on youths’ substance use and delinquency in prior efficacy and effectiveness studies, can be usefully taken “to scale” and delivered in an effective manner by existing staff in a range of urban school sites within the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area. This study will have substantial policy implications for implementation of prevention programs in real-world settings.
Individual vs. Group Administration of the Coping Power Program
PI: John E. Lochman, Ph.D.
Funding Source: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
This study is designed to examine the relative effectiveness of two versions of a prevention program designed to reduce children’s aggression during the preadolescent years and to prevent youth violence and other antisocial outcomes (Coping Power). One version will involve delivery of the program in a group format, which has been empirically supported in previous outcome studies, and the other version will involve delivery of the program in a newly developed individual format. The proposed study is designed to address a critical issue in prevention and treatment research, namely, whether group-based programs lead to enhanced risk for deviant behavior and/or whether the effectiveness of interventions is compromised by group delivery. The answer to this question not only affects this particular preventive intervention, but has widespread significance for all group-based interventions with preadolescent at-risk children. However, there are also potential advantages for group-based interventions, including an opportunity to engage in social skill training with children while they are with peers. Thus, a major next intervention research focus will examine whether providing the intervention to children individually is significantly more effective than providing the intervention to groups of children.
Center for Prevention and Early Intervention
PI: Nicholas Ialongo, Ph.D.
Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health
This study involves the delivery of the Coping Power Program in the Baltimore City Schools as part of a prevention study examining the effects of targeted and universal interventions in school-based settings.