Effectiveness of Treatment for Relational Aggression in Urban African American Girls - Full Text View

Purpose

This study will evaluate the effectiveness of a school-based social cognitive group treatment in reducing aggression (bullying) among relationally aggressive urban African American girls.

Condition	Intervention	Phase
Aggression	Behavioral: Friend to Friend program Behavioral: Psychoeducational attention control intervention	Phase 3

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Allocation: Randomized Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment Masking: Open Label Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title:	Determining the Efficacy of a Relational Aggression Intervention for Urban African American Girls

Further study details as provided by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia:

Primary Outcome Measures:

Peer nominations [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment and immediately post-treatment ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Playground observations [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment and immediately post-treatment ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment and immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Social Cognitive Assessment Profile [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment and immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Cartoon Based Hostile Attribution Bias Measure [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment and immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Knowledge of Anger Problem Solving (KAPS) [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment, and at 9 month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Discipline referrals and suspensions [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Academic Performance Rating Scale [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Homework Performance Questionnaire [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Asher-Wheeler Loneliness Questionnaire [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Iowa-Conner Aggression subscale [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Student-Teacher Relationship Scale [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment and at 9-month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Peer Ratings of Aggression and Prosocial Behavior [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Harter, Self-Perception Profile for Children [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment, and at 9 month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
Peer Sympathy Scale [ Time Frame: Measured pre-treatment, immediately post-treatment, and at 9 month follow-up ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Enrollment:	144
Study Start Date:	October 2007
Estimated Study Completion Date:	April 2014
Estimated Primary Completion Date:	April 2014 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)

Arms	Assigned Interventions
Experimental: 1 Participants will receive the Friend to Friend program	Behavioral: Friend to Friend program Friend to Friend arm is a social information processing group treatment to help aggressive girls learn better social problem solving and decision making choices. Participants will learn how to identify signs of physiological arousal, evaluate others' intentions, react to a potential conflict situation, and generate and evaluate alternatives. Treatment sessions are twice per week (30 to 40 minutes per session) for ten weeks. Other Name: Relational aggression intervention
Active Comparator: 2 Participants will receive the psychoeducational attention control intervention	Behavioral: Psychoeducational attention control intervention Psychoeducational attention control group also meets two times per week for 10 weeks to control for nonspecific factors of treatment. Participants learn homework, study skills, and organizational skills. Other Name: Homework and study skills intervention

Arms

Assigned Interventions

Experimental: 1

Participants will receive the Friend to Friend program

Behavioral: Friend to Friend program

Friend to Friend arm is a social information processing group treatment to help aggressive girls learn better social problem solving and decision making choices. Participants will learn how to identify signs of physiological arousal, evaluate others' intentions, react to a potential conflict situation, and generate and evaluate alternatives. Treatment sessions are twice per week (30 to 40 minutes per session) for ten weeks.

Other Name: Relational aggression intervention

Active Comparator: 2

Participants will receive the psychoeducational attention control intervention

Behavioral: Psychoeducational attention control intervention

Psychoeducational attention control group also meets two times per week for 10 weeks to control for nonspecific factors of treatment. Participants learn homework, study skills, and organizational skills.

Other Name: Homework and study skills intervention

Detailed Description:

Relational aggression, also known as "female bullying," is a type of psychological aggression in which covert tactics are used to harm other people and their relationships. These tactics include humiliation, intimidation, coercing, shaming, malicious teasing, shunning, and using other forms of emotional abuse in an attempt to harm others. Although aggressive behavior is typically common among younger children, most children become less aggressive as they mature and develop better interpersonal skills. However, consistent aggressive behavior can lead to further problems and increased violence in the aggressor. In this study, a social cognitive anger management group intervention called Friend to Friend (F2F) will be evaluated as a way to develop more productive social and emotional functioning among relationally aggressive urban African American girls.

Participants will be randomly assigned to either the F2F program or a psycho-educational attention control (PAC) group. All participants will attend 40-minute treatment sessions twice a week for a total of 10 weeks. The sessions will occur during the girls' lunch or recess period. Participants assigned to the F2F program will learn how to identify signs of physiological arousal, react to a potential conflict while generating alternatives to the solution, and apply previously discussed social cognitive strategies to different situations. Culturally specific cartoons, videotape illustrations, and role playing will be used to portray these improved strategies and behaviors. Participants assigned to the PAC group will learn different organization and homework strategies as well as how to improve their study skills in an attempt to improve their overall academic performance. Outcomes will be assessed through observation, school reports, and questionnaires for all participants at baseline, immediately after treatment, and 9 months after treatment.

Eligibility

Genders Eligible for Study:	Female
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria for Schools :

Urban school located in Southwest Philadelphia
Student body is more than 80% African American
Large school with at least three classrooms per grade
Not currently involved with systematic anti-aggression social skills program

Inclusion Criteria for Participants:

In the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade
Meets diagnostic criteria for relational aggression

Exclusion Criteria for Participants:

Enrolled in special education and not integrated into a regular education classroom

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00510094

Locations

United States, Pennsylvania
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104

Sponsors and Collaborators

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Investigators

Principal Investigator:

Stephen S. Leff, PhD

Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

More Information

Publications:

Leff SS, Crick NR, Angelucci J, Haye K, Jawad AF, Grossman M, Power TJ. Social cognition in context: validating a cartoon-based attributional measure for urban girls. Child Dev. 2006 Sep-Oct;77(5):1351-8.

Leff, S. S., Angelucci, J., Goldstein, A. B., Cardaciotto, L., Paskewich, B., & Grossman, M. (2007). Using a participatory action research model to create a school-based intervention program for relationally aggressive girls: The Friend to Friend Program. In J. Zins, M. Elias, & C. Maher (Eds.), Bullying, Victimization, and Peer Harassment: Handbook of Prevention and Intervention in Peer Harassment, Victimization, and Bullying (199-218). New York. Haworth Press.

Leff, S. S., Ph.D., Gullan, R.L., Paskewich, B. S., Abdul-Kabir S., Jawad, A. F., Grossman, M., Munro, M. A., & Power, T. J. (2009). An initial evaluation of a culturally-adapted social problem solving and relational aggression prevention program for urban African American relationally aggressive girls. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community, 37, 1-15.

Blom-Hoffman J, Leff SS, Franko DL, Weinstein E, Beakley K, Power TJ. Consent Procedures and Participation Rates in School-Based Intervention and Prevention Research: Using a Multi-Component, Partnership-Based Approach to Recruit Participants. School Ment Health. 2009 Mar 1;1(1):3-15.

Gullan, R.L., Feinberg, B.E., Freedman, M.A., Jawad, A., & Leff, S.S. (2009). Using participatory action research to design an intervention integrity system in the urban schools. School Mental Health, 1, 118-130.

Leff SS, Waasdorp TE. Effect of aggression and bullying on children and adolescents: implications for prevention and intervention. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2013 Mar;15(3):343. doi: 10.1007/s11920-012-0343-2.

Waasdorp TE, Baker CN, Paskewich BS, Leff SS. The association between forms of aggression, leadership, and social status among urban youth. J Youth Adolesc. 2013 Feb;42(2):263-74. doi: 10.1007/s10964-012-9837-9. Epub 2012 Oct 20.

Macevoy JP, Leff SS. Children's sympathy for peers who are the targets of peer aggression. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2012 Oct;40(7):1137-48. doi: 10.1007/s10802-012-9636-5.

Leff SS, Lefler EK, Khera GS, Paskewich B, Jawad AF. Preliminary examination of a cartoon-based hostile attributional bias measure for urban African American boys. Am J Community Psychol. 2012 Jun;49(3-4):332-46. doi: 10.1007/s10464-011-9461-y.

Leff SS, Waasdorp TE, Paskewich B, Gullan RL, Jawad AF, Macevoy JP, Feinberg BE, Power TJ. The Preventing Relational Aggression in Schools Everyday Program: A Preliminary Evaluation of Acceptability and Impact. School Psych Rev. 2010 Dec;39(4):569-587.

Leff SS, Cassano M, MacEvoy JP, Costigan T. Initial validation of a knowledge-based measure of social information processing and anger management. J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2010 Oct;38(7):1007-20. doi: 10.1007/s10802-010-9419-9.

Responsible Party:	Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00510094 History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers:	2006-10-5013, R01MH075787, DSIR 84-CTS
Study First Received:	July 30, 2007
Last Updated:	April 12, 2013
Health Authority:	United States: Federal Government

Keywords provided by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia:

Social Skills
Anger Management
Relational Aggression

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Aggression
Behavioral Symptoms

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 16, 2013