A population-based randomized intervention trial for the prevention of conduct problems (i.e., oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder) is described. The LIFT (Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers) intervention was designed for all first- and fifth-grade elementary school boys and girls and their families living in at-risk neighborhoods characterized by high rates of juvenile delinquency. The 10-week intervention strategy was carefully targeted at proximal and malleable antecedents in three social domains that were identified by a developmental model of conduct problems. From 12 elementary schools, 671 first and fifth graders and their families participated either in the theory-based universal preventive intervention or in a control condition. The intervention consisted of parent training, a classroom-based social skills program, a playground behavioral program, and systematic communication between teachers and parents. A multiple measure assessment strategy was used to evaluate participant satisfaction and participation, fidelity of implementation, and the immediate impacts of the program on targeted antecedents.

Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT), a prevention program designed for delivery to children and parents within the elementary school setting, is described. The LIFT targets for change those child and parent behaviors thought to be most relevant to the development of adolescent delinquent and violent behaviors, namely child oppositional, defiant, and socially inept behavior and parent discipline and monitoring.The three major components of the LIFT are (a) classroom-based child social and problem skills training, (b) playground-based behavior modification, and (c) group-delivered parent training.The results of a randomized controlled evaluation of the LIFT are reviewed.To date, the program has positively impacted the targeted antecedents. Most importantly, during the 3 years following the program, the LIFT delayed the time that participants first became involved with antisocial peers during middle school, as well as the time to first patterned alcohol use, to first marijuana use, and to first police arrest.

The relation among child antisocial behavior, child coercive exchanges with parents and peers, and the social adaptation of middle-childhood-aged boys and girls was investigated. The 374 children were observed during laboratory tasks with their parents and during recess with peers. A covariance model was tested that hypothesized that coercive exchanges with parents and peers would contribute uniquely to a multiple-agent assessment of child antisocial behavior, supporting an ecological view of social development. A single model described both boys and girls adequately, although minor gender-specific variations in effect size did produce a better fit. Children's antisocial behavior was associated with school maladaption primarily among boys, as represented by academic engagement in the classroom and peer nominations of social preference. Children's antisocial behavior and coercive interactions, in contrast, were correlated with peer antisocial behavior in both girls and boys.

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