SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING FOR AGGRESSIVE ADOLESCENTS

NIMH
ID: 1R43MH068075-01
PI: MELISSA DEROSIER, PHD
TERM: 03/03 – 08/03

Problematic peer relations, particularly when chronic, can have a tremendous impact on children’s functioning and mental health. Interpersonal aggression is a substantial peer problem among our youth. A history of aggressive behavior with peers is associated with a myriad of later negative outcomes, including delinquency and criminality. Intervention research supports the use of social skills training for decreasing aggression and antisocial behavior problems in aggressive youth as well as for improving their peer relations and social behavior. The primary aim of this project is to develop a new social skills intervention, entitled Project Forward (PF), for use with Middle and High school students. PF will build on an established group social skills intervention, S.S.GRIN (Social Skills GRoup INtervention; DeRosier, 2002a) that has been particularly successful in working with aggressive elementary students. PF will not only extend S.S.GRIN to older students, but also incorporate innovative treatment strategies so that PF will offer professionals a significant advancement over what is currently available for use with this population.

The primary goal of this Phase I project was to develop a prototype of the Project Forward (PF) intervention. The prototype maintained some concepts and structure from S.S.GRIN, however it was also adapted to meet the needs of older and more aggressive youth. For Phase I, separate developmental versions of materials were created for Middle and High school age adolescents. These included a Facilitator’s Manual, session scripts, and youth and parent handouts. Sample video segments and web-based homework assignments were also developed. Feasibility testing conducted with school and community mental health counselors indicated very positive ratings of the materials including manual, session content, and handouts. Results also provided useful feedback to guide further development.

Based on Phase I findings, Phase II funding was sought to revise and refine the intervention and conduct a Phase II scientific evaluation of its use and efficacy.

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DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.