WWC Quick Review of the Article "Effects of Social Development Intervention
in Childhood 15 Years Later"1
Features of the Seattle Social Development Project
Teachers receive five days of training in classroom management, interactive teaching, and cooperative learning skills.
Students are taught social skills centered on solving problems without resorting to aggressive behavior.
Parents are offered classes on how to manage their child's behavior, provide academic support at home, and reduce their child's risk of drug use.
What is this study about? The study examined the long-term effects of the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP), an elementary-school–based intervention designed to improve students’ social skills and engagement.
The study analyzed data on about 600 young adults who had been students in 15 public elementary schools serving high-crime areas in Seattle, Washington in the 1980s. Study participants were interviewed at ages 24 and 27.
Starting in 1981, classrooms in eight schools were randomly assigned to offer SSDP in grades 1 to 4. In 1985, seven similar schools were added to the study, with some nonrandomly selected to offer SSDP in grades 5 and 6.
This created three research groups: (1) students receiving SSDP in both early and later elementary school; (2) students receiving SSDP in later elementary school only; and (3) students not receiving SSDP services.
WWC Rating
The research described in this article is consistent with WWC evidence standards with reservations.
Strengths: The research groups were well-matched on a number of initial characteristics, including gender, race/ethnicity, and childhood poverty.
Cautions: The authors examined more than 40 outcomes for the three research groups. Estimating a large number of effects increases the possibility that some may be found to be statistically significant by chance. The authors do not adjust for this possibility in their analysis. In addition, the research groups were not created randomly. Although the authors report that the groups were similar on a number of initial characteristics, there may have been unobserved differences between the groups that may have affected the results.
What did the study authors report?
Receiving SSDP in both early and late elementary school improved some mental health outcomes in young adulthood and reduced the likelihood of contracting a sexually transmitted disease. The program did not affect rates of substance use.
The WWC has reservations about these results because the research groups may have been different from each other in ways not controlled for in the analysis.
1Hawkins, J. D., Kosterman, R., Catalano, R. F., Hill, K. G., & Abbott, R. D. (2008). Effects of social development intervention in childhood 15 years later.
ArchPediatr Adolesc Med, 162(12), 1133–1141.
WWC quick reviews are based on the evidence published in the report cited and rely on effect sizes and significance levels as reported by study authors. WWC does not confirm study authors’ findings or contact authors for additional information about the study. The WWC rating refers only to the results summarized above and not necessarily to all results presented in the study.
|Institute of Education Sciences