The University of Washington study examined nearly 600 children who began their education in 18 elementary schools serving high-crime Seattle, Wash., neighborhoods. It found that a package of elementary-school interventions aimed at teachers, parents and children was successful in lowering high-school students' violent behavior, drinking and sexual activity, and in increasing school performance.

"The message that teachers and parents can make a difference has been confirmed by this research," said David Hawkins, a University of Washington social work professor and lead author of the study. "We know that the things people do as teachers and parents can have important effects. The remarkable thing about this study is the breadth of outcomes and that this intervention package has lasting impacts through age 18. We now have clear evidence that helping teachers to teach better and parents to parent better pays off in a broad range of outcomes beyond the classroom."

The study compared the students with a control group that was not exposed to the intervention program. It found that at age 18, teens targeted by the intervention program during elementary school were 19 percent less likely to commit violent acts; 38 percent less likely to indulge in heavy drinking; 13 percent less likely to engage in sexual intercourse; 19 percent less likely to have had multiple sex partners; and 35 percent less likely to have caused a pregnancy or become pregnant.

Furthermore, children who received the intervention program had better academic performance and achieved higher overall grade-point averages through school.

The Seattle intervention program begins when children enter the first grade and continues through the sixth grade. Teachers are given special training each year in such skills as interactive teaching, classroom monitoring, cooperative learning and proactive disciplinary skills to prevent problems. Children are taught impulse control, how to get what they want without aggressive behavior, and how to recognize the feelings of other people. Parents learn such skills as positive reinforcement, monitoring their children and how to reduce their children's risk of early alcohol and drug use.

"It is very clear that when children first start school is an important time to promote positive educational and social development," said Hawkins. "Helping teachers and parents be more effective in what they do during the elementary school years has an impact in the long run."

The study is published in the March issue of the American Medical Association's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

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