An experimentally designed comparison of four intensities of school-based prevention programs for adolescents with adjustment problems

Abstract

The effects of four different intensities of prevention programs (including no program at all) were compared in a field setting. Forty urban seventh graders with school adjustment problems were randomly assigned to one of three prevention programs or to a no program group. Half of the students participated for one hour on two mornings per week throughout the school year; the other half of the students participated in the afternoons. The results showed that program intensity had a significant effect upon grades and observed classroom behavior in the morning programs. No such effect occurred in the afternoon programs. The effects in the morning were preventive (versus rehabilitative) in nature. Only the most intense program, which included parent contact, had a greater effect than no program at all. The implications of these results for school-based interventions are discussed.