A meta-analytic review of 33 studies and 41 independent samples was conducted of the effectiveness of community-based mental health and behavioral programs for low-income urban youth. Findings indicated positive effects, with an overall mean effect of 0.25 at post-test. While this is comparable to previous meta-analytic intervention research with more diverse samples, it stands in contrast to findings of the school-based review (0.08 at post-test) focused on this population. The current review found type of intervention to significantly moderate effects, with effects highest for programs that were environmentally based.In fact, effect sizes for programs that did not target the environment were not significant. Findings are discussed with an emphasis on environmental influences, including the differing contexts affecting school-versus community-based interventions conducted with lowincome, urban youth.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.