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Guide
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METROPOLITAN AREA CHILD STUDY (MACS)
OVERVIEW
The Metropolitan Area Child Study (MACS) is a research trial program which is made up of several component programs all designed to prevent aggression in children and early adolescents. The full program curriculum consists of a classroom curriculum, small group peer-skills training, and family counseling. An experimental evaluation of the MACS program that randomized the schools found that it was effective in reducing aggression in urban-poor neighborhoods with higher levels of school and community resources. In poor urban neighborhoods which had only low levels of school and community resources, the program either had no impact or negative impacts on aggression levels. The program had limited impacts on academic achievement outcomes. None of the interventions reduced aggression among fifth and sixth graders.
The full MACS program consists of 3 different interventions designed to prevent childhood aggression. The first component is a classroom curriculum called “Yes I Can” which aims to help children understand the feelings of others’, teach children social problem solving skills, and reduce aggression as an acceptable method of dealing with problems. The classroom curriculum is delivered over 2 school-years and was labeled as the most cost effective component. The second component program is a series of small group sessions in which students meet and discuss peer relations and problem solving when problematic interactions occur. In these sessions, children meet with graduate-level student instructors 28 times during two school years. The final intervention program is described thoroughly in another research article (Tolan & McKay, 1996) and consists of a series of family intervention meetings. In these meetings, families first meet with other family groups to receive the week’s lesson and then families meet individually with counselors to discuss family-specific problems. This phase of the program consists of 22 weekly sessions.
Metropolitan Area Child Study Research Group (2002). A cognitive-ecological approach to preventing aggression in urban settings: Initial outcomes for high-risk children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(1), 179-194.
Approach: The researchers first selected 16 Chicago area schools and blocked them on community location (North and South Chicago, and East and West Aurora) and ethnicity (African-American and mixed ethnicity). Blocks of 4 schools, composed of 1 of each demographic type of school, were then randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions or a control group. In the research trial, the program was delivered at three different levels to measure some differences between components of the program. The intervention conditions were general enhancement classroom program (level A), general enhancement plus small group peer-skills training (level B), or general enhancement with small group training and a family intervention (level C). The intervention conditions built upon one another so that program effects of each could be examined individually. The study did have a moderate level of attrition which caused the researchers to analyze much of the data using subsets of the populations to prevent biasing the results. The intervention, as described above, lasted for 8 years and consisted of 8 cohorts of children. Children were assessed on 2 measures of aggression (peer rated and teacher rated) and academic achievement.
Results: At the early intervention period in grades 1-4, the program had no simple, overall impacts on levels of aggression. At the late intervention period in grades 5 and 6, the program did not have any positive impacts on aggression. In fact, participants in the level B program were rated as being significantly more aggressive than those in the control group. For children receiving the intervention both at the early and late stages, the program also had no overall impacts on aggression.
There were, however, several important impacts of the program on different subgroups in the study. The level C program, when delivered at either the early or early+late intervention periods, had a significant positive impact on aggression levels for children living in schools with higher school and community resources, in the case of this study, Aurora schools. This impact was not found for schools with lower resources, in this case, Chicago schools. Children in Chicago schools who received the level C treatment during both the early and the late intervention periods were rated as being more aggressive than their counterparts in the control group. No gender interactions were found.
In terms of achievement, children receiving the level A intervention in grades 1-4 had greater increases in academic achievement scores compared with those in the control group. The level B and C interventions had no impact on achievement. None of the 3 programs had an impact for children receiving the intervention in both grades 1-4 and 5-6 and those receiving the intervention in only grades 5-6.
Program website: http://www.psych.uic.edu/fcrg/macs.html
Metropolitan Area Child Study Research Group (2002). A cognitive-ecological approach to preventing aggression in urban settings: Initial outcomes for high-risk children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 70(1), 179-194.
Tolan, P. H. & McKay, M. M. (1996). Preventing serious antisocial behavior in inner-city children: An empirically based family intervention program. Family Relations, 45, 148-155.
Program categorized in this guide according to the following:
Evaluated participant ages: grades 1-6 / Program age ranges in the Guide: middle childhood; adolescence
Program components: counseling/therapy; parent or family component; school-based
Measured outcomes: education and cognitive development; behavioral problems
Program information last updated 10/12/07
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© Child Trends 2003 |