6.6 Prevention Science: Risk & Protective Factors, SEL, Social Skills & Conflict Resolution
Key Takeaways
The Institute of Medicine prevention model classifies programs as universal (everyone), selective (groups at elevated risk), and indicated (individuals with early signs).
Risk and protective factors operate across individual, family, school, peer, and community domains, and risk accumulates: several risk factors predict worse outcomes than any single one.
CASEL describes five SEL competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
A 2011 meta-analysis (Durlak and colleagues) of 213 school-based SEL programs found an 11-percentile-point gain in academic achievement.
Social skills interventions should match the deficit type: acquisition deficits need direct teaching, while performance deficits need prompts and reinforcement.
Why Prevention Science Is Tested
The ETS outline asks candidates to know how to conduct individual and small-group interventions and programs (examples given: social skills training, conflict resolution), to be familiar with risk and protective factors for learning and mental health issues and design interventions for them, and, at the systems level, to know risk and protective factors for school failure, truancy, dropout, bullying, youth suicide, and school violence. Prevention is the logic behind MTSS: intervene early, at the level of need, before problems become disabilities or crises.
Prevention Models
| Model | Levels | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Public health (Caplan) | Primary, secondary, tertiary | Primary prevents new cases; secondary identifies and treats early cases; tertiary reduces impairment in established cases |
| Institute of Medicine (Gordon; Mrazek & Haggerty, 1994) | Universal, selective, indicated | Universal serves everyone; selective serves groups at elevated risk (for example, children whose parents are divorcing); indicated serves individuals with early signs or symptoms |
| MTSS | Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 | Roughly parallels universal, selective and indicated, and intensive intervention |
A good exam distinction: selective prevention targets a group defined by a risk factor before symptoms appear; indicated prevention targets individuals who already show early symptoms.
Risk and Protective Factors
Risk factors increase the likelihood of a problem; protective factors reduce it or buffer the effect of risk. Both appear across domains:
| Domain | Risk Factor Examples | Protective Factor Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Individual | Early aggression, impulsivity, poor emotion regulation, early academic failure | Problem-solving skills, self-regulation, positive self-concept, easy temperament |
| Family | Harsh or inconsistent discipline, conflict, parental substance misuse, low supervision | Warm, consistent parenting, monitoring, high expectations |
| School | Low engagement, grade retention, poor school climate, exclusionary discipline | Connectedness to school, a caring adult, academic success |
| Peer | Association with deviant peers, rejection, bullying involvement | Prosocial friends, positive group activities |
| Community | Violence, poverty, easy access to drugs or firearms | Community organizations, mentors, safe recreation |
Key principles from prevention research (for example, Hawkins and Catalano's social development model and the Communities That Care system):
- Risk is cumulative. Several risk factors together predict much worse outcomes than one.
- Protective factors matter most for high-risk youth.
- Many problems share risk factors, so good prevention programs reduce several problems at once.
Risk and Protective Factors for Specific School Problems
| Problem | Key Risk Factors | Key Protective Factors |
|---|---|---|
| School failure and dropout | Early warning indicators: poor attendance, behavior problems, low course performance (the "ABCs"); grade retention; over-age for grade; disengagement | Engagement, a mentor, credit recovery, mentoring programs such as Check & Connect |
| Truancy and chronic absence | Illness, anxiety, bullying, family instability, disengagement | Positive relationships, early outreach, barrier removal (Section 7.2) |
| Bullying | Weak supervision, peer norms that tolerate bullying, social isolation for targets | Active supervision, bystander defenders, friends, clear responses (Section 7.2) |
| Youth suicide | Prior attempt, depression and other mental disorders, substance use, access to lethal means, recent loss or humiliation, bullying; elevated rates among LGBTQ+ youth linked to minority stress | Connectedness to family and school, access to care, problem-solving skills, restricted access to lethal means (Section 8.2) |
| School violence | Prior violence, access to weapons, grievances, peer rejection, exposure to violence | Connectedness, trusted adults who receive concerns, threat assessment (Section 8.2) |
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
CASEL describes five interrelated competencies:
- Self-awareness: recognizing one's emotions, strengths, and values
- Self-management: regulating emotions and behavior, setting goals
- Social awareness: empathy and perspective-taking
- Relationship skills: communication, cooperation, conflict resolution
- Responsible decision-making: making caring, constructive choices
A widely cited meta-analysis of 213 school-based universal SEL programs (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, & Schellinger, 2011) found improved social-emotional skills, attitudes, and behavior, and an 11-percentile-point gain in academic achievement. Effects were strongest when programs followed the SAFE features: Sequenced activities, Active learning, Focused time on skills, and Explicit learning goals.
Social Skills Training
Social skills training works best when it targets the right kind of deficit (Gresham):
| Deficit Type | Description | Intervention Emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| Acquisition (skill) deficit | The student does not know the skill | Direct instruction: model, rehearse, give feedback (e.g., Skillstreaming, Section 6.3) |
| Performance deficit | The student knows the skill but does not use it | Prompts, precorrection, and reinforcement in natural settings |
| Fluency deficit | The student uses the skill awkwardly or slowly | Additional practice and feedback |
| Competing problem behaviors | Problem behaviors interfere with learning or using the skill | Reduce the competing behavior while teaching the skill |
The Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS) (Gresham & Elliott) links rating scales to an intervention guide. The biggest weakness of social skills training is poor generalization. Program for it by practicing in real settings, involving teachers and peers, and reinforcing the skill outside the group.
Conflict Resolution and Peer Mediation
Conflict resolution programs teach a problem-solving sequence:
- Calm down and agree to talk.
- Each person describes the problem and feelings without blaming.
- Each person restates the other's view.
- Brainstorm options.
- Choose a solution that works for both (win-win).
- Follow up.
Peer mediation trains students to guide disputants through these steps. It is appropriate for mutual conflicts between students with roughly equal power. It is not appropriate for bullying, where a power imbalance makes mediation unsafe and implies shared blame (Section 7.2).
Small-Group and Individual Programs
- Anger management and problem-solving training (for example, cognitive-behavioral programs such as Coping Power) teach recognizing anger cues, calming strategies, perspective-taking, and problem solving.
- Interpersonal problem-solving programs for young children (for example, Shure's "I Can Problem Solve") teach generating alternatives and considering consequences.
- Mentoring programs pair students with consistent adults.
- Group composition matters: avoid grouping several students with serious conduct problems without prosocial peers, because of peer deviancy training (Section 6.3).
Evaluating Prevention Programs
Choose programs with evidence (for example, from registries that rate program quality), then check fidelity and dosage during implementation (Section 7.3). A strong program delivered in half its intended sessions will not produce the published results.
A school offers a support group for all students whose parents are going through a divorce, whether or not the students show any problems. In the Institute of Medicine prevention model, this is an example of which type of prevention?
Universal prevention
Indicated prevention
Tertiary treatment
Selective prevention
A fifth grader can describe and role-play how to join a game at recess correctly in a social skills group, but on the playground he still grabs the ball instead of asking. What type of deficit does this suggest, and what should the intervention emphasize?
An acquisition deficit; teach the skill again from the beginning in more group sessions.
A performance deficit; add prompts, precorrection, and reinforcement for using the skill on the playground.
An intellectual disability; refer for a cognitive evaluation.
A fluency deficit; remove him from recess until he can perform the skill quickly.
Two eighth graders of similar size and social standing have been arguing over a broken friendship and want to settle it. Which intervention is most appropriate?
Peer mediation or a facilitated conflict-resolution conversation, because this is a mutual conflict between students with roughly equal power.
Formal bullying investigation and discipline for both students.
An immediate threat assessment by the school resource officer.
Assigning both students to separate schools.
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