Social Information-Processing Skills Training to Promote Social Competence and Prevent Aggressive Behavior in the Third Grade

This article describes a school-based study designed to promote social competence and reduce aggressive behavior by strengthening children's skills in processing social information and regulating emotions. Three successive cohorts of 3rd graders ( N = 548) from 2 schools participated. In 2000-2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of consulting and clinical psychology 2005-12, Vol.73 (6), p.1045-1055
Main Authors: Fraser, Mark W, Galinsky, Maeda J, Smokowski, Paul R, Day, Steven H, Terzian, Mary A, Rose, Roderick A, Guo, Shenyang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Aggressiveness
Behavioural psychology
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Children
Developmental psychology
Educational psychology
Emotions
Empirical research
Medical sciences
Mental health
Prevention programs
Prevention. Health policy. Planification
Preventive programmes
Primary education
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
School based
Social competence
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Social psychology
Social skills processing
Socialization
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Summary:This article describes a school-based study designed to promote social competence and reduce aggressive behavior by strengthening children's skills in processing social information and regulating emotions. Three successive cohorts of 3rd graders ( N = 548) from 2 schools participated. In 2000-2001, children received a routine health curriculum; in 2001-2002, students received the Making Choices: Social Problem Solving Skills for Children (MC) program; and in 2002-2003, children received MC supplemented with teacher and parent activities. Compared with children in the routine condition, children in both MC conditions were rated lower on posttest social and overt aggression and higher on social competence. Moreover, they scored significantly higher on an information-processing skills posttest. The findings suggest that prevention programs can strengthen social-emotional skills and produce changes in aggressive behavior.
ISSN:0022-006X
1939-2117
DOI:10.1037/0022-006X.73.6.1045