Long-Term Effects on Children's Behavior Problems: A Classroom-Based Randomized Trial in Head Start Settings

Fuhua Zhai, Stony Brook University, State University of New York (SUNY)
C. Cybele Raver, New York University
Stephanie Jones, Harvard University

The Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP), a classroom-based randomized controlled trial in Head Start settings, provided multifaceted classroom-based interventions to support teachers' classroom management and to reduce children's risk of elevated behavior problems. Using data from the CSRP, we will first examine whether the CSRP interventions can reduce children's behavior problems, as reported by parents, using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to account for the multilevel structure of the CSRP data. We will further conduct multilevel linear growth models to assess both the initial status and the linear change over time in children's behavior problems using the repeated measures of behavior problems collected at three time points. We also examine whether the CSRP effects are moderated by children's family poverty-related risks and initial behavioral and cognitive skills. The study will provide new evidence on the long-term effects of classroom-based early interventions on low-income children's behavior problems and important implications for policymakers.