Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers

Grades: 1st and 5th graders and their parents.

Contact: J. Mark Eddy
Oregon Social Learning Center
160 East 4th Avenue
Eugene, OR 97401
Phone: 541/485-2711, FAX: 541/485-7087

This is a universal prevention program that targets for change those child and parent behaviors thought to be most relevant to the development of adolescent delinquent, violent, and related behaviors. Specifically addressed are child oppositional, defiant, and socially inept behaviors and parent discipline monitoring. The three major components of the program are classroom-based behavior modification; and group-delivered parent training.

The program reported small to large effect sizes showing that immediately after the intervention, LIFT students in Grades 1 and 5 decreased their physical aggression towards classmates on the school playground, and mothers of LIFT students in Grades 1 and 5 decreased their negative verbal comments to their children. A small effect size was reported showing that LIFT students in Grades 1 and 5 were perceived by teachers as demonstrating more positive social behaviors to other students within the classroom setting one year after the intervention. During the three-year period following the intervention, LIFT students in Grade 1 were statistically significantly less likely to show an increase in the severity of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder symptomatology as perceived by teachers. The program also used odds ratios to demonstrate that LIFT students in Grade 5 were less likely to be reported by teachers as associating with peers with behavior problems, to be arrested by police, and to report patterned alcohol use or marijuana use during the three year period after the intervention.

Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Promising Program
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Promising Program
US DOE Expert Panel, Promising Program, 2001