IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v84y2018icp143-151.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of the positive action program on substance use, aggression, and psychological functioning: Is school climate a mechanism of change?

Author

Listed:
  • Stalker, Katie Cotter
  • Wu, Qi
  • Evans, Caroline B.R.
  • Smokowski, Paul R.

Abstract

The social emotional learning (SEL) conceptual model posits that SEL programs lead to increased knowledge and skills, improved attitudes about self, others, and school, and supportive learning environments, which in turn improve student emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes. Positive Action (PA) is an SEL program for elementary-, middle-, and high-school students. Extensive research documents the effectiveness of PA in decreasing adolescent risk factors and enhancing protective factors, however, minimal research has examined the mechanisms of change responsible for these effects. The current study examined whether PA was associated with SEL outcomes (i.e., alcohol use, aggression, depression, and anxiety) through school hassles (a proxy for school climate). The analytic sample consisted of 8333 ethnically/racially diverse, rural adolescents (51% female) in grades 6 through 12. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze the data. Engagement in PA was significantly associated with decreased school hassles, indicating an improvement in school climate. Subsequently, decreases in school hassles were significantly associated with decreased alcohol use, aggression, depression, and anxiety. Thus, there was an indirect effect between PA, decreased school hassles, and improved adolescent outcomes. Implications were discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Stalker, Katie Cotter & Wu, Qi & Evans, Caroline B.R. & Smokowski, Paul R., 2018. "The impact of the positive action program on substance use, aggression, and psychological functioning: Is school climate a mechanism of change?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 143-151.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:84:y:2018:i:c:p:143-151
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.11.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740917307399
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.11.020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Beets, M.W. & Flay, B.R. & Vuchinich, S. & Snyder, F.J. & Acock, A. & Li, K.-K. & Burns, K. & Washburn, I.J. & Durlak, J., 2009. "Use of a social and character development program to prevent substance use, violent behaviors, and sexual activity among elementary-school students in Hawaii," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(8), pages 1438-1445.
    2. Fisher, Robert J, 1993. "Social Desirability Bias and the Validity of Indirect Questioning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(2), pages 303-315, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sweldens, Steven & Puntoni, Stefano & Paolacci, Gabriele & Vissers, Maarten, 2014. "The bias in the bias: Comparative optimism as a function of event social undesirability," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 229-244.
    2. Mr Clive Boddy & Mr Derek Bond & Dr Elaine Ramsey, 2010. "Projective Techniques Are they a Victim of Clashing Paradigms," Accounting, Finance and Economics Research Group Working Papers 1, Ulster Business School.
    3. Frode Alfnes & Chengyan Yue & Helen H. Jensen, 2010. "Cognitive dissonance as a means of reducing hypothetical bias," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 37(2), pages 147-163, June.
    4. Ruvio, Ayalla A. & Shoham, Aviv, 2016. "Consumer arrogance: Scale development and validation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 3989-3997.
    5. Jie, Yun, 2020. "Responding to requests for help: Effects of payoff schemes with small monetary units," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Datta Gupta, Nabanita & Lausten, Mette & Pozzoli, Dario, 2012. "Does Mother Know Best? Parental Discrepancies in Assessing Child Functioning," IZA Discussion Papers 6962, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Gabriel, Andreas & Rombach, Meike & Wieser, Hannah & Bitsch, Vera, 2021. "Got waste: knowledge, behavior and self-assessment on food waste of university students in Germany," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 24(6), February.
    8. Ana León-Gómez & José Manuel Santos-Jaén & Daniel Ruiz-Palomo & Mercedes Palacios-Manzano, 2022. "Disentangling the impact of ICT adoption on SMEs performance: the mediating roles of corporate social responsibility and innovation," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 13(3), pages 831-866, September.
    9. Carvalho, Sergio W. & Fazel, Hesham & Trifts, Valerie, 2018. "Transgressing a group value in a transcultural experience: Immigrants' affective response to perceived social identity threats," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 326-333.
    10. Rimal, Arbindra & Fletcher, Stanley M. & McWatters, Kay H., 2000. "Nutrition Considerations In Food Selection," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 3(1), pages 1-16.
    11. Sjöstedt, Martin & Sundström, Aksel & Jagers, Sverker C. & Ntuli, Herbert, 2022. "Governance through community policing: What makes citizens report poaching of wildlife to state officials?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    12. Lergetporer, Philipp & Piopiunik, Marc & Simon, Lisa, 2021. "Does the education level of refugees affect natives’ attitudes?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    13. Burgstaller, Lilith & Feld, Lars P. & Pfeil, Katharina, 2022. "Working in the shadow: Survey techniques for measuring and explaining undeclared work," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 661-671.
    14. Pradeep Kumar Ponnamma Divakaran & Jie Xiong, 2022. "Eliciting brand association networks: A new method using online community data," Post-Print hal-03700393, HAL.
    15. Sha Yang & Yi Zhao & Ravi Dhar, 2010. "Modeling the Underreporting Bias in Panel Survey Data," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(3), pages 525-539, 05-06.
    16. de Ruyter, Ko & van Birgelen, Marcel & Wetzels, Martin, 1998. "Consumer ethnocentrism in international services marketing," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 185-202, April.
    17. Austgulen, Marthe H. & Skuland, Silje & Schjøll, Alexander & Alfnes, Frode, 2015. "Consumer readiness to reduce meat consumptions and eat more climate friendly," 143rd Joint EAAE/AAEA Seminar, March 25-27, 2015, Naples, Italy 202757, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Chathurika Sewwandi Kannangara & Rosie Elizabeth Allen & Jerome Francis Carson & Samia Zahraa Noor Khan & Gill Waugh & Kondal Reddy Kandadi, 2020. "Onwards and upwards: The development, piloting and validation of a new measure of academic tenacity- The Bolton Uni-Stride Scale (BUSS)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-26, July.
    19. Nerys M Astbury & Charlotte Albury & Rebecca Nourse & Susan A Jebb, 2020. "Participant experiences of a low-energy total diet replacement programme: A descriptive qualitative study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, September.
    20. Hengky Latan & Charbel Jose Chiappetta Jabbour & Ana Beatriz Lopes de Sousa Jabbour, 2021. "To Blow or Not to Blow the Whistle: The Role of Rationalization in the Perceived Seriousness of Threats and Wrongdoing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 517-535, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:84:y:2018:i:c:p:143-151. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.