Preventing disruptive behavior in early elementary schoolchildren: impact of a universal classroom-based preventive intervention

Knowledge about the development of children with disruptive behaviors, leading to disruptive disorders and related poor outcomes, guides prevention research in the development and evaluation of preventive interventions. The overview of effective interventions in this chapter showed that several effective intervention strategies are available to intervene in the development of disruptive behavior. Most of the development and evidence for effective prevention programs is based on studied in the USA. Consequently, these prevention programs are developed for use in the USA. It was therefore decided to develop a universal, classroom based preventive intervention for use in the Netherlands and determine the impact of this intervention. The main purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of Good Behavior Game (GBG; Barrish et aL, 1969; Dolan et aL, 1989) on the development of disruptive behaviors in young elementary schoolchildren in the Netherlands. The GBG a universal, classroom based preventive intervention program. In addition, the purpose was to study risk factors in the child, familial and parenting domain that predict whether children will or will not respond to the intervention. The secondary purpose of this study was to further our knowledge about developmental psychopathology. This was done by studying the characteristics of groups of children with similar patterns of disruptive behaviors and by studying developmental trajectories of children's aggression, the characteristics at onset as well as the consequences for following a specific developmental trajectory

Understanding mechanisms of change in the development of antisocial behavior: The impact of a universal intervention

The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends, and peer rejection was tested with a preventive intervention; 664 boys and girls were randomly assigned to a universal classroom-based intervention targeting disruptive behavior or a control condition. Peer nominations of antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection were assessed annually for 4 years. A high, a moderate, and a stable low antisocial behavior trajectory were identified. Large reductions in antisocial behavior were found among intervention children who followed the high trajectory. These reductions coincided with affiliations with nondeviant peers and with decreases in peer rejection. The affiliation between deviant and nondeviant peers was initiated by nondeviant children. The results support a causal role of deviant friends and peer rejection in the development of antisocial behavior. The implications for our understanding of the mechanisms leading to reductions in antisocial behavior are discussed

Longitudinal links between childhood peer acceptance and the neural correlates of sharing

Childhood peer acceptance is associated with high levels of prosocial behavior and advanced perspective taking skills. Yet, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these associations have not been studied. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study examined the neural correlates of sharing decisions in a group of adolescents who had a stable accepted status (n = 27) and a group who had a chronic rejected status (n = 19) across six elementary school grades. Both groups of adolescents played three allocation games in which they could share money with strangers with varying costs and profits to them and the other person. Stably accepted adolescents were more likely to share their money with unknown others than chronically rejected adolescents when sharing was not costly. Neuroimaging analyses showed that stably accepted adolescents, compared to chronically rejected adolescents, exhibited higher levels of activation in the temporo-parietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus, temporal pole, pre-supplementary motor area, and anterior insula during costly sharing decisions. These findings demonstrate that stable peer acceptance across childhood is associated with heightened activity in brain regions previously linked to perspective taking and the detection of social norm violations during adolescence, and thereby provide insight into processes underlying the widely established links between peer acceptance and prosocial behavior

Exposure to Bullying and General Psychopathology: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study

Although there is mounting evidence that the experience of being bullied associates with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, it is not known yet whether the identified associations are specific to these symptoms, or shared between them. The primary focus of this study is to assess the prospective associations

Developmental Links between Teacher-Child Closeness and Disobedience for Boys Placed in Special Education

The aim of this study was to examine developmental links between disobedience and teacher-child closeness in a sample of boys with psychiatric disorders (i.e., emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD)) and special educational needs who are placed in special education. More specifically, this study examined whether developmental links were different between boys with EBD (n = 150) versus boys with ASD (n = 122). Developmental links between disobedience and teacher-child closeness were investigated by incorporating a multi-informant perspective using teacher, child, and peer ratings and analyzed using autoregressive cross-lagged models across three waves within one school year. Results showed that in general, developmental links between teacher-child closeness and disobedience were stronger for boys with EBD than for boys with ASD. Specifically, boys with EBD experiencing less teacher-child closeness showed more disobedience, which in turn negatively affected their rela

Developmental Links Between Disobedient Behavior and Social Classroom Relationships in Boys With Psychiatric Disorders in Special Education

In mainstream education, positive relationships with teachers and peers have been found to positively influence children’s behavioral development. However, high levels of classroom behavior problems may hinder the formation of such positive relationships. Therefore, findings from mainstream education cannot be generalized to special educa