The Reporter: June 1997, Vol.8, No.3
NIMH Grant Furthers Jonas Center Study of Early Intervention Program

Drs. Laurie S. Miller and Rachel G. Klein from the Barbara Jonas Center for the Study and Treatment of Children at Risk in the Department of Child Psychiatry have received a $2.5 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to continue their promising work.

Children who participated in the year-long intervention showed fewer behavior problems over time.

The Jonas Center at CPMC set out four years ago to develop programs to prevent antisocial behavior by working with very young children and their families. Today, that work has resulted in the development and testing of an early intervention program specifically designed for young, inner-city children at risk for antisocial behavior.

Co-directors Dr. Miller, P&S assistant professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry, and Dr. Klein, director of the Jonas Center and P&S professor of clinical psychology in psychiatry, initially enrolled 30 children and their parents in a pilot study of a prevention program for preschoolers with older delinquent siblings. Compared with those who were randomized to a control group, the children who participated in the year-long intervention showed fewer behavior problems over time.

Also, by involving parents in the program, researchers found that participating adults were more likely to praise and reward their children's positive behaviors and were better able to use non-aggressive disciplinary strategies. Drs. Miller and Klein believe that those important improvements in parent and child behavior are likely to have positive consequences for the youths in terms of preventing delinquent behavior.

The NIMH grant will allow for a large-scale clinical trial of 100 families to further test the intervention for parenting. If the prevention program proves successful, a new, empirically tested intervention approach will be made available on a widespread basis in hopes of decreasing the rate of inner city youth violence.