This study reports secondary outcome analyses from a past study of the Penn Resiliency
Program (PRP), a cognitive-behavioral depression prevention program for middle-school
aged children. Middle school students (N = 697) were randomly assigned to PRP, PEP
(an alternate intervention), or control conditions. Gillham et al., (2007) reported analyses
examining PRP’s effects on average and clinical levels of depression symptoms. We
examine PRP’s effects on parent-, teacher-, and self-reports of adolescents’ externalizing
and broader internalizing (depression/anxiety, somatic complaints, and social
withdrawal) symptoms over three years of follow-up. Relative to no intervention control,
PRP reduced parent-reports of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms beginning at the first
assessment after the intervention and persisting for most of the follow-up assessments.
PRP also reduced parent-reported conduct problems relative to no-intervention. There
was no evidence that the PRP program produced an effect on teacher- or self-report of
adolescents’ symptoms. Overall, PRP did not reduce symptoms relative to the alternate
intervention, although there is a suggestion of a delayed effect for conduct problems.
These findings are discussed with attention to developmental trajectories and the
importance of interventions that address common risk factors for diverse forms of
negative outcomes.peer-reviewe