Changing the way children "think" about aggression: social-cognitive effects of a preventive intervention.
The study reports social-cognitive outcomes of interventions in a cluster-randomized school-based aggression prevention trial in low and moderate resource urban communities. Targeted social cognitions were aggressive responses, aggressive/prosocial fantasy, and normative beliefs supporting aggression. Participants were 1,484 early elementary school-age children selected for aggression above school medians. Schools received no treatment, curriculum plus teacher consultation (Level A), or Level A plus small-group training (Level B) over 2 years. The Level A condition changed the social cognitions supporting aggression in the desired direction but only in the moderate resource communities. The small-group component did not appear to add to the effect of the Level A condition. Findings suggest that early prevention can modify children's social cognitions in moderate resource communities.
D000374:Aggression; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D005201:Fantasy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012572:School Health Services; D012920:Social Behavior Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking