Trial reportAmerican journal of health promotion : AJHP
Preventing negative behaviors among elementary-school students through enhancing students' social-emotional and character development.
Trial report in American journal of health promotion : AJHP. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Individual-, family-, and school-level interventions targeting multiple risk behaviours in young people.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2018Pooled it
- A Living Scoping Review of Universal Interventions for Promoting Relational Health in Childhood, Adolescence and Young Adulthood.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Article
- Opportunities to Improve the Implementation of Relational Health Interventions for Children and Families: A Secondary Analysis of a Scoping Review.Clinical child and family psychology review · 2026Article
- Are school-based violence prevention interventions inclusive and effective for children with disabilities? A systematic review of global evidence.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- School-related Promotive Factors Related to Cannabis Use Among American Indian Adolescents.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2022Article
- How are behavioural interventions delivered to children (5-11 years old): a systematic mapping review.BMJ paediatrics open · 2019Article
- A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Positive Action Program in a Low-Income, Racially Diverse, Rural County: Effects on Self-Esteem, School Hassles, Aggression, and Internalizing Symptoms.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2015Article
- SOCIO-EMOTIONAL AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: A Theoretical Orientation.Journal of character educationArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeExamine the effects of a comprehensive, school-wide social-emotional and character development program using a positive youth development perspective. Specifically, we examined a mediation mechanism whereby positive academic-related behaviors mediated the intervention effects on substance use, violence, and sexual activity.
designMatched-pair, cluster-randomized, controlled design.
settingTwenty (10 intervention and 10 control) racially/ethnically diverse schools in Hawaii. SUBJECTS: Elementary-aged students (N = 1784) from grade 5.
interventionThe Positive Action program. MEASURES: Students self-reported their academic behaviors, together with their substance use, violence, and voluntary sexual activity; teachers rated students' academic behaviors, substance use, and violence. ANALYSIS: Structural equation modeling.
resultsStudents attending intervention schools reported significantly better academic behavior (B = .273, SE = .039, p < .001) and significantly less substance use (B = -.970, SE = .292, p < .01, incidence-rate ratio [IRR] = .379), violence (B = -1.410, SE = .296, p < .001, IRR = .244), and sexual activity (B = -2.415, SE = .608, p < .001, odds ratio = .089); boys reported more negative behaviors than girls. Intervention effects on student-reported substance use, violence, and sexual activity were mediated by positive academic behavior. Teacher reports corroborated these results, with rated academic behavior partially mediating the effects of the intervention on rated negative behaviors.
conclusionThis study (1) provides evidence that adds insight into one mechanism through which a social-emotional and character development program affects negative outcomes and (2) supports social-emotional and character development and positive youth development perspectives that posit that focusing on youths' assets may reduce negative behaviors.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.