Strengthening the Social Information Processing Skills of Third Graders in Rural China

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to describe findings from a matched clusters trial of a school-based intervention Let’s Be Friends designed to promote social competence and prevent maladaptive behavior by strengthening the social information processing (SIP) skills of third-grade children in rural China. Method: Using a blocked cluster design with random sampling, 13 treatment schools ( n = 355) of a total of 67 schools in the study site were randomly selected, and 14 schools ( n = 341) formed the control condition. All third graders from the treatment schools received 14 sessions of intervention. Results: The adapted program appears to have strengthened children’s SIP skills, reduced aggressive behavior, and promoted cognitive concentration. The study does not confirm that children growing up in single-child families fare worse than children living with siblings. Conclusion: The program has the potential to strengthen the SIP skills of children in rural China.

The moderating effects of school resources on the impact of a school‐based intervention on the social information‐processing skills of third graders in rural China

“…There are 30 outcome variables: 10 are the CCC subscales, 20 are the SLA outcomes (i.e., five story situations to measure four SIP skills of encoding, hostile attribution, goal formulation, and response decision). Outcomes on these measures were reported previously in Guo et al (2020). With six school-resource variables, we used these outcomes to estimate more than 180 interaction models (i.e., 30 × 6 = 180 models plus exploratory modeling of significant interactions).…”

“…All outcome variables used in the analysis are difference scores that use the post‐intervention outcome minus its pre‐intervention outcome. Details regarding these measures, including their psychometric properties can be found in S. Guo et al (2020).…”

“…Systematic reviews using China's databases CNKI and CSSI starting from 3,253 citations and US's databases MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and SocINDEX starting from 268,157 citations find no comparable trials (see figs. 1 and 2 of Guo et al, 2020).…”

“…Analyses showed that the study sample of 681 participants had adequate statistical power of 0.80, sufficient to detect effect sizes that were slightly larger than a small effect size as defined by Cohen's d . As summarized in the introduction, the results of this trial showed that the Let's Be Friends—Shaanxi intervention strengthened the SIP skills of children (for more information, see Guo et al, 2020).…”

“…The trial was implemented in a rural area of China with a study sample of 681 primary school children. Results of an intent‐to‐treat evaluation showed that the LBF program strengthened children's SIP skills, reduced aggressive behavior, and promoted cognitive concentration (Guo et al, 2020; Peng et al, 2020). The study did not find that children who are “left behind” in the rural areas (due to the migration of their parents to urban areas) fared worse on SIP outcomes than other children (Guo et al, 2019).…”