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Effects of Social Development Intervention in Childhood on Adult Life at Ages 30 to 39

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Abstract

Elementary schools can be effective sites for universal preventive interventions. Less is known about how long effects of intervention in elementary grades last. Can they improve outcomes in adulthood? To test effects of a social developmental intervention in the elementary grades on adult life through the 30s, the Seattle Social Development Project, a nonrandomized controlled trial, followed all consenting 5th-grade students (N = 808) from 18 Seattle public elementary schools from age 10 (in 1985) to age 39 (in 2014), with 88% retention. The sample was gender balanced and ethnically and economically diverse. The full intervention, called Raising Healthy Children, continued from Grades 1 through 6 and consisted of teacher in-service training in classroom management and instructional methods; cognitive, social, and refusal skills training for children; and parent workshops in child behavior monitoring and management, academic support, and anticipatory guidance. Using structural equation modeling, we examined intervention effects from age 30 to age 39 across 9 constructs indicating 3 domains of adult life: health behavior, positive functioning, and adult health and success. An omnibus test across all 9 constructs indicated a significant positive overall intervention-control difference. Examined individually, significant intervention effects included better health maintenance behavior, mental health, and overall adult health and success. Significant effects were not found on substance use disorder symptoms, sex-risk behaviors, or healthy close relationships in the 30s. Results indicate that sustained, theory-based, multicomponent intervention in the elementary grades can produce lasting changes in health maintenance, mental health, and adult functioning through the 30s.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant numbers R01DA033956, 1R01DA024411, and 1R01DA09679. We thank our funder, the study participants, and the staff of our research group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social Development Research Group, School of Social Work, University of Washington, 9725 3rd Avenue N. E., Suite 401, Seattle, WA, 98115, USA

    Rick Kosterman, J. David Hawkins, Jennifer A. Bailey & Richard F. Catalano

  2. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Institute of Behavioral Science, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Karl G. Hill

  3. College of Education, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Robert D. Abbott

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  1. Rick Kosterman
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  2. J. David Hawkins
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  3. Karl G. Hill
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  4. Jennifer A. Bailey
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  6. Robert D. Abbott
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Correspondence to Rick Kosterman.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Human Subjects Review Committee at the University of Washington (STUDY00002228) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

Conflict of Interest

Dr. Catalano is a board member of Channing Bete Company, distributor of Guiding Good Choices®. This program was tested in the study that produced the dataset used in this paper. Other authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

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Kosterman, R., Hawkins, J.D., Hill, K.G. et al. Effects of Social Development Intervention in Childhood on Adult Life at Ages 30 to 39. Prev Sci 20, 986–995 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-019-01023-3

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