Proximal impact of two first-grade preventive interventions on the early risk behaviors for later substance abuse, depression, and antisocial behavior

We assessed the immediate effects of two universal, first-grade preventive interventions on the proximal targets of poor achievement, concentration pr oblems, aggression, and shy behaviors, known early risk behaviors for later substance use/abuse, affective disorder and conduct disorder. The classroo m-centered (CC) intervention was designed to reduce these early risk behavi ors by enhancing teachers' behavior management and instructional skills, wh ereas the family-school partnership (FSP) intervention was aimed at improvi ng parent-teacher communication and parental teaching and child behavior ma nagement strategies. Over the course of first and second grades the CC inte rvention yielded the greatest degree of impact on its proximal targets, whe reas the FSP's impact was somewhat less. The effects were implemented by ge nder and by preintervention levels of risk. Analyses of implementation meas ures demonstrated that greater fidelity to the intervention protocols was a ssociated with greater impact on behavior ratings and on achievement scores , thus providing some evidence of specificity in the effect of the interven tions.