Examination of Head Start children's social competence and social cognitions after participating in a universal violence prevention program

Young children's aggressive behaviors have been the focus of considerable research in the last several decades. Based on this research evidence suggests that childhood aggression predicts later high-risk behaviors including delinquency, dropout, and maladjustment. Research also suggests that prevention efforts, early in life, are successful in decreasing the likelihood of aggression by promoting constructive behavioral alternatives to aggression. This is based on the premise that young people at risk for behavioral problems often lack the foundational social and emotional competencies that are necessary for school success.;The purpose of this study was to examine Head Start children's social competence and social cognitions before and after participating in the Second Step Violence Prevention Curriculum. This curriculum emphasized the acquisition of social and emotional skills in preschoolers as well as to decrease behaviors that may lead to aggression later in life. Sixty-four Head Start children from 5 classrooms in Alachua County participated in this study. In particular, this study examined the degree of association among children's characteristics including gender, age, ethnicity, language ability, pretest measures of social competence and social cognitions, and intervention outcomes including posttest measures of social competence and social cognitions, while controlling for socioeconomic status. In addition, this study examined the degree of association between teachers' characteristics, including age, years of education, years of experience, years in current position, and treatment fidelity, and intervention outcomes, including children's posttest measures of social competence and social cognitions, while controlling for socioeconomic status.;Results suggest that (1) of all the children's characteristics examined during the study, children's social competence (i.e., their pretest scores on the Social Skills Rating System) and overall development (i.e., children's pretest scores on the Early Screening Inventory, Revised) predicted children's social competence following implementation; (2) children's initial measures of social cognitions (i.e., or their pretest scores on the Early Childhood Social Cognitions Interview) and language ability (scores on the Preschool Language Scales, 4th Edition) predicted an increase in their social cognitions after participating in the program; and (3) teachers' characteristics were significant in the identification of group differences in children's social competence following implementation.