The recent Institute of Medicine report on prevention (National Research Council [NRC] & IOM, 2009) noted the substantial inter-relationship among mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders, and pointed out that, to a great extent, these problems stem from a set of common conditions. However, despite the evidence, current research and practice continues to deal with the prevention of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders as if they are unrelated and each stem from different conditions. This paper proposes a framework that could accelerate progress in preventing these problems. Environments that foster successful development and prevent the development of psychological and behavioral problems are usefully characterized as nurturing environments. First, these environments minimize biologically and psychologically toxic events. Second, they teach, promote, and richly reinforce prosocial behavior, including self-regulatory behaviors and all of the skills needed to become productive adult members of society. Third, they monitor and limit opportunities for problem behavior. Fourth, they foster psychological flexibility—the ability to be mindful of one's thoughts and feelings and act in the service of one's values, even when one's thoughts and feelings discourage taking valued action. We review evidence to support this synthesis and describe the kind of public health movement that could increase the prevalence of nurturing environments and, thereby, contribute to the prevention of most mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders.

This paper describes evidence-based kernels, fundamental units of behavioral influence that appear to underlie effective prevention and treatment for children, adults, and families. A kernel is a behavior-influence procedure shown through experimental analysis to affect a specific behavior and that is indivisible in the sense that removing any of its components would render it inert. Existing evidence shows that a variety of kernels can influence behavior in context, and some evidence suggests that frequent use or sufficient use of some kernels may produce longer lasting behavioral shifts. The analysis of kernels could contribute to an empirically based theory of behavioral influence, augment existing prevention or treatment efforts, facilitate the dissemination of effective prevention and treatment practices, clarify the active ingredients in existing interventions, and contribute to efficiently developing interventions that are more effective. Kernels involve one or more of the following mechanisms of behavior influence: reinforcement, altering antecedents, changing verbal relational responding, or changing physiological states directly. The paper describes 52 of these kernels, and details practical, theoretical, and research implications, including calling for a national database of kernels that influence human behavior.Keywords Evidence-based kernels Á Public-health benefits Á Prevention Á Treatment This paper presents an analysis of fundamental units of behavioral influence that underlie effective prevention and treatment. We call these units kernels. They have two defining features. First, in experimental analysis, researchers have found them to have a reliable effect on one or more specific behaviors. Second, they are fundamental units of behavior influence in the sense that deleting any component of a kernel would render it inert. Understanding kernels could contribute to an empirically based theory of behavioral influence, facilitate dissemination of effective prevention and treatment practices, clarify the active ingredients in existing interventions, and contribute to developing interventions that are more efficient and effective. Subsequent sections of this paper expand on the two essential features of evidence-based kernels, as well as the origins of the idea and terminology.The ultimate goals of treatment and prevention research are a reduction of the prevalence of the most common and costly problems of behavior and an increase in the prevalence of wellbeing. Current thinking about how to accomplish this assumes that we will identify empirically supported programs and, to a lesser extent, policies, and will disseminate them widely and effectively. Although substantial progress is occurring through this strategy, there are at least four limitations to it that point to the value of kernels as a complementary strategy.First, it is difficult to implement a program's efficacy widely with fidelity or effectiveness. Ringwalt et al. (2003) surveyed a sample of 1,795 school staff members who were i...

School-based prevention programs can positively impact a range of social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. Yet the current climate of accountability pressures schools to restrict activities that are not perceived as part of the core curriculum. Building on models from public health and prevention science, we describe an integrated approach to school-based prevention. These models leverage the most effective structural and content components of social-emotional and behavioral health prevention interventions. Integrated interventions are expected to have additive and synergistic effects that result in greater impacts on multiple student outcomes. Integrated programs are also expected to be more efficient to deliver, easier to implement with high quality and integrity, and more sustainable. We provide a detailed example of the process through which the PAX-Good Behavior Game and the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum were integrated into the PATHS to PAX model. Implications for future research are proposed.

Humans possess great capacity for behavioral and cultural change, but our ability to manage change is still limited. This article has two major objectives: first, to sketch a basic science of intentional change centered on evolution; second, to provide examples of intentional behavioral and cultural change from the applied behavioral sciences, which are largely unknown to the basic sciences community. All species have evolved mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity that enable them to respond adaptively to their environments. Some mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity count as evolutionary processes in their own right. The human capacity for symbolic thought provides an inheritance system having the same kind of combinatorial diversity as does genetic recombination and antibody formation. Taking these propositions seriously allows an integration of major traditions within the basic behavioral sciences, such as behaviorism, social constructivism, social psychology, cognitive psychology, and evolutionary psychology, which are often isolated and even conceptualized as opposed to one another. The applied behavioral sciences include well-validated examples of successfully managing behavioral and cultural change at scales ranging from individuals to small groups to large populations. However, these examples are largely unknown beyond their disciplinary boundaries, for lack of a unifying theoretical framework. Viewed from an evolutionary perspective, they are examples of managing evolved mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity, including open-ended processes of variation and selection. Once the many branches of the basic and applied behavioral sciences become conceptually unified, we are closer to a science of intentional change than one might think.

PeaceBuilders is a universal, elementary-school-based violence prevention program that attempts to alter the climate of a school by teaching students and staff simple rules and activities aimed at improving child social competence and reducing aggressive behavior. Eight matched schools (N Ͼ 4,000 students in Grades K-5) were randomly assigned to either immediate postbaseline intervention (PBI) or to a delayed intervention 1 year later (PBD). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze results from assessments in the fall and spring of 2 consecutive school years. In Year 1, significant gains in teacher-rated social competence for students in Grades K-2, in child self-reported peace-building behavior in Grades K-5, and reductions in aggressive behavior in Grades 3-5 were found for PBI but not PBD schools. Differential effects in Year 1 were also observed for aggression and prosocial behavior. Most effects were maintained in Year 2 for PBI schools, including increases in child prosocial behavior in Grades K-2. Implications for early universal school-based prevention and challenges related to evaluating large-scale prevention trials are discussed.