An evaluation of peer coping-skills training for childhood aggression

Peer coping-skills (PCS) training is a new school-based intervention designed to promote prosocial coping among school-age children. The intervention is based on a coping-competence model that addresses the development of antisocial and asocial coping among youth at elevated risk for conduct disorder. PCS training was tested in a controlled evaluation with children in Grades 1 to 3 who exhibit high rates of aggressive behavior, and it was found to increase prosocial coping via information exchange, improve social skills, and reduce aggression. These improvements were maintained into the next school year, as reflected in a 6-month follow-up assessment by teachers. Competent-nonaggressive children who also participated not only showed no adverse effects by demonstrated skill enhancement. Children, parents, and teachers in the ethnically diverse sample rated PCS training as highly acceptable. It is recommended that PCS training be combined with family and classroom intervention strategies over multiple years to promote the development of competence and to increase the likelihood of preventing conduct disorders in high-risk youth.