Towards the prevention of severe conduct problems in children: Early findings from the Fast Track project.

McMahon, R. J. (1998). Towards the prevention of severe conduct problems in children: Early findings from the Fast Track project [Abstract]. Australian Journal of Psychology, 50(Supplement), 104.

Abstract: Children who begin to engage in conduct problem behaviors during the preschool and early school-age periods are at significant risk for negative outcomes in adolescence and adulthood. Fast Track is an ongoing, comprehensive, multisite intervention trial that is designed to prevent serious and chronic conduct problems. The program is based on a developmental model of conduct problems that posits the interaction of multiple influences on the development of antisocial behavior. The intervention begins in the first grade and continues through tenth grade. The elementary-school phase of the intervention is unique in combining targeted interventions for the highest risk children with a universal intervention directed to the promotion of social and emotional competence for all children in the intervention schools. There is a high-risk intervention sample of children selected at school entry on the basis of high levels of prior conduct problems, a comparable sample of high-risk children who do not participate in the intervention, and a normative comparison sample. Findings are presented concerning the intervention effects over the first several years with the high-risk sample. Attempts by the CPPRG to examine mediational models that test how changes in various malleable risk factors may account for the intervention effects are summarized, as are changes in the developmental model that are related to the onset of early adolescence and how these changes influence planned intervention strategies.