Transparent, Open, and Reproducible Prevention Science

The field of prevention science aims to understand societal problems, identify effective interventions, and translate scientific evidence into policy and practice. There is growing interest among prevention scientists in the potential for transparency, openness, and reproducibility to facilitate this mission by providing opportunities to align scientific practice with scientific ideals, accelerate scientific discovery, and broaden access to scientific knowledge. The overarching goal of this manuscript is to serve as a primer introducing and providing an overview of open science for prevention researchers. In this paper, we discuss factors motivating interest in transparency and reproducibility, research practices associated with open science, and stakeholders engaged in and impacted by open science reform efforts. In addition, we discuss how and why different types of prevention research could incorporate open science practices, as well as ways that prevention science tools and methods could be leveraged to advance the wider open science movement. To promote further discussion, we conclude with potential reservations and challenges for the field of prevention science to address as it transitions to greater transparency, openness, and reproducibility. Throughout, we identify activities that aim to strengthen the reliability and efficiency of prevention science, facilitate access to its products and outputs, and promote collaborative and inclusive participation in research activities. By embracing principles of transparency, openness, and reproducibility, prevention science can better achieve its mission to advance evidence-based solutions to promote individual and collective well-being

What Works for Whom in School-Based Anti-bullying Interventions? An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis

The prevalence of bullying worldwide is high (UNESCO, 2018). Over the past decades, many anti-bullying interventions have been developed to remediate this problem. However, we lack insight into for whom these interventions work and what individual intervention components drive the total intervention effects. We conducted a large-scale individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis using data from 39,793 children and adolescents aged five to 20 years (Mage = 12.58, SD = 2.34) who had participated in quasi-experimental or randomized controlled trials of school-based anti-bullying interventions (i.e., 10 studies testing nine interventions). Multilevel logistic regression analyses showed that anti-bullying interventions significantly reduced self-reported victimization (d =  − 0.14) and bullying perpetration (d =  − 0.07). Anti-bullying interventions more strongly reduced bullying perpetration in younger participants (i.e., under age 12) and victimization for youth who were more heavily victimized before the intervention. We did not find evidence to show that the inclusion of specific intervention components was related to higher overall intervention effects, except for an iatrogenic effect of non-punitive disciplinary methods–which was strongest for girls. Exploratory analyses suggested that school assemblies and playground supervision may have harmful effects for some, increasing bullying perpetration in youth who already bullied frequently at baseline. In conclusion, school-based anti-bullying interventions are generally effective and work especially well for younger children and youth who are most heavily victimized. Further tailoring of interventions may be necessary to more effectively meet the needs and strengths of specific subgroups of children and adolescents. </p

Changing the Social Contexts of Peer Victimization

Introduction: While school-based prevention programs often target deficits in individual children’s social skills in order to limit their aggression or exposure to peer victimization, there is increasing evidence that school-wide and classroom-level factors can affect the success of these programs. Method: We describe the WITS Primary Program which takes a community development approach for the prevention of victimization. It was designed for kindergarten to grade 3 students, and aims to create responsive communities for the prevention of peer victimization by engaging the support of parents, teachers, school counselors, olde

The Interrelated Effects of Traditional and Cybervictimization on the Development of Internalizing Symptoms and Aggressive Behaviors in Elementary School

Although the effect of physical and relational (i.e., traditional) victimization on psychopathology is established, the interdependent contribution of cybervictimization is unclear. We test a longitudinal path model theorizing that (a) children’s physical and relational victimization in Grade 4 or 5 is associated with more cybervictimization experiences when they are in Grade 5 or 6 (when independent access to cybertechnology typically begins to increase), and (b) cybervictimization and traditional victimization experiences are associated with internalizing symptoms and aggressive behaviors at the end of Grade 5 or 6 (controlling for prior levels). Five waves of data were collected from children, parents, and teachers in 27 rural Canadian schools involved in an evaluation of a bullying-prevention program. Analyses for this study were based on the subsample of participants in Grades 5 and 6 (n = 714, Mage = 11.0) who completed cybervictimization questionnaires in the final two waves (i.e., fall and spring of 1 academic year). Participants also completed all other measures at each assessment point. All forms of victimization were correlated with internalizing symptoms and aggressive behaviors, within time. Across time, relational victimization was independently associated with more cybervictimization and physical victimization. Relational victimization was also independently associated with more aggressive behaviors for boys only, but not with internalizing symptoms for girls or boys. Physical and cybervictimization was not related to aggressive behaviors or internalizing symptoms over time. Prevention efforts that target relational victimization may reduce cybervictimization and physical victimization and aggressive behaviors in elementary school

Child and Context Characteristics in Trajectories of Physical and Relational Victimization among Early Elementary School Children

Article deposited according to publisher policies: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displaySpecialPage?pageId=4608#Transactional models suggest that peer victimization results from both individual and context differences, and understanding these differences may point to important targets for prevention and interventions that reduce victimization. Multilevel modeling was used to examine within-person (aggression and emotional dysregulation), between-person (sex and age), and between-school (participation in a victimization prevention program) factors that influence changes in physical and relational victimization over the first three years of elementary school. Children (n=423) reported their experiences of peer victimization at entry into Grade 1 and at the end of Grade 1, Grade 2 and Grade 3. On average, trajectories of both physical and relational victimization declined. However, for individual children, teacher-rated aggression was associated with increases in physical and relational victimization, while emotional dysregulation was associated with attenuation of longitudinal declines in physical victimization and increases in relational victimization. Individual differences in sex and age at entry into Grade 1 did not significantly influence victimization trajectories over grades 1 to 3. Children who participated in the WITS® victimization prevention program showed significant declines in physical and relational victimization. Levels of victimization among non-participants remained stable. Implications of child and context characteristics for preventing peer victimization in elementary school are discussed.YesThis research was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (#CAR-4327) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (410-2000-0748)

How children's justifications of the 'best thing to do' in peer conflicts relate to their emotional and behavioral problems in early elementary school

In this three-year longitudinal study, children were asked to choose the "best" strategy for dealing with hypothetical peer provocations and to justify "why" that was their choice at the end of first, second, and third grades. Teachers and parents also rated children's emotional and behavioral problems. Children's justifications were subjected to qualitative analyses to identify distinct content categories. These included getting others into trouble or avoiding it, dichotomous reasoning about good (kind) versus bad (mean) strategies, appeals to authorities for help, situation-specific solutions that anticipated consequences of actions, or general rules or solutions that could or should be used in similar conflicts to effect positive outcomes. These justification categories were related to the children's grade levels. Older children were more likely to use more story-specific justifications and to refer to the perspectives of others and to future consequences in their justification responses. Children who used justifications that involved getting others into trouble or avoiding it had higher levels of teacher ratings of concurrent emotional and behavioral problems at second and third grades and to parent ratings of emotional problems at third grade. © 2006 by Wayne State University Pres

Co-Use of Alcohol and Cannabis: Longitudinal Associations with Mental Health Outcomes in Young Adulthood

Increases in cannabis use among young people has heightened concern about the potential interactive health effects of cannabis with other drugs. We examined the longitudinal association between concurrent and simultaneous (SAM) co-use of alcohol and cannabis in young adulthood on mental health symptoms, substance use behaviors, and substance-related harms two years later. Data were drawn from Time 5 (T5; n = 464; 46% male) and 6 (T6; n = 478; 45% male) of the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey. At T5, 42% of participants used alcohol-only, 13% used concurrently, 41% used SAM, 1% were cannabis only users, and 3% abstained from cannabis and alcohol. Boys were more likely to use SAM. Higher T5 SAM use frequency was associated with heavier use of substances, more substance-related harms, and symptoms of psychosis and externalizing problems at T6. T5 Concurrent use was associated with conduct symptoms, illicit drug use, and alcohol use disorders at T6 relative to alcohol-only use. Cannabis is commonly used with alcohol and the findings suggest that any co-use (concurrent or simultaneous) may be problematic in young adulthood. Public health messages need to explicitly inform consumers about the possible consequences of using both alcohol and marijuana and the addictive pharmacological impact of using them together

Reciprocal Effects of Internalizing and Oppositional Defiance Symptoms on Heavy Drinking and Alcohol-Related Harms in Young Adulthood

There is a need for longitudinal research to understand how psychopathology relates to the onset and maintenance of substance use from adolescence into young adulthood. Hence, we investigate the longitudinal, reciprocal influences of internalizing (anxiety and depression) and externalizing (oppositional defiance) symptoms on heavy episodic drinking (HED; ≥5 drinks per occasion) and alcohol-related harms in a community-based sample of youth aged 12–27 years. Participants were chosen from the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey, followed six times, biennially between 2003 and 2013 ( N = 662). Analyses used cross-lagged panel models to examine reciprocal relations over time. Differences across age and sex were also tested. Defiance symptoms predicted increases in HED, which reciprocally predicted increases in defiance symptoms for females. Internalizing symptoms were related to HED within time for females. Alcohol-related harms had reciprocal positive associations with internalizing and defiance symptoms for both males and females. Associations were largely invariant across age groups, suggesting that the presence and strength of associations persisted across development. While psychopathology preceded the onset of HED and harms, the overall findings suggest that these risk processes are mutually reinforcing across development and that youth may become entrenched in an interdependent cycle that significantly increases their risk of comorbid disorders in adulthood