Identifier

etd-07062014-123636

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Check-in/Check-out intervention (CICO; Crone, Hawken, & Horner, 2010) when it is applied to children who display relationally aggressive behaviors. Previous research indicates that universal, school-wide, interventions are generally ineffective in decreasing behaviors associated with relational aggression. It may be that a targeted intervention, such as CICO, could be more effective. Three schools were selected for participation in the current project, and the fifth grade of each of these schools was targeted. One school served as the treatment school, while the other schools served as the delayed-treatment control school. Students in each participating classroom who exhibited relationally aggressive behaviors above their class mean as reported by teachers participated in the CICO intervention for four weeks. During intervention, targeted students were assigned an adult mentor to check-in and check-out with each day, and teachers gave students feedback on their behavior throughout the school day. Effects on targeted students and other students in the grade were evaluated through repeated measures analyses of variance. It was hypothesized that reductions in both relationally aggressive behavior and self-reported rates of victimization by relationally aggressive behavior would result. The data did not support these hypotheses. Generally, students in the treatment group reported increased levels of relational aggression following treatment, while students in the delayed-treatment group reported decreasing levels. Teachers reported decreasing levels of relationally aggressive behaviors in their students over time, though these results were not significant. Victimization by relational aggression decreased following intervention, though this result was also not significant. Results, implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

Date

2014

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Gresham, Frank

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.3831

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Psychology Commons

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