News
Roger Weissberg to be 2008 Bennett Lecturer
Roger Weissberg, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology and Education and President, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), University of Illinois at Chicago, will be the 2008 Bennett Lecturer in Prevention Science. Dr. Weissberg will visit the Penn State University Park campus from November 12-14, 2008.
He holds appointments as a Senior Research Scientist with both the American Institutes for Research and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory for Student Success funded by the Institute of Education Sciences of the U. S. Department of Education. For the past 25 years, Professor Weissberg has trained scholars and practitioners about innovative ways to design, implement, and evaluate family, school, and community interventions.
Professor Weissberg has authored about 200 publications focusing on preventive interventions with children and adolescents and has written curricula on school-based programs to promote social competence and prevent problem behaviors including drug use, high-risk sexual behaviors, and aggression. His Social Competence Promotion Program for Young Adolescents received a model program designation from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.
Louis Brown, Sarah Chilenski, Receive Awards from SCRA
Louis Brown, Ph.D., Research Associate with the Prevention Research Center, and Sarah Chilenski, Research Assistant Professor with the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, were both honored recently by the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) with dissertation awards. Dr. Brown received the Emory L. Cowan Dissertation Award for the Promotion of Wellness; Dr. Chilenski received the Best Dissertation on a Topic Relevant to Community Psychology Award. Each award includes a monetary prize, a one-year membership in SCRA, and reimbursement of some travel expenses to a conference of the winners' choice. Well done, Louis and Sarah!
Penn State Study Shows Large Payoff for Crime Prevention Efforts
June 2, 2008 (Harrisburg, PA) – According to a report released today by the Penn State Prevention Research Center, a $60 million investment by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) over the last decade in evidence-based programs across the state has resulted in a $317 million return on just seven of those programs.
Study results reveal that by reducing arrests, drug and alcohol treatment, victimization, welfare and social service usage and increasing school performance, graduation rates, employment and subsequent tax revenue, these prevention programs not only pay for themselves but generate a significant return-on-investment of between $1 and $26 for every dollar spent. The programs involve prevention strategies that address youth crime and violence, including mentoring programs, school-based skill building programs, family strengthening programs, and individual and family therapy for juvenile offenders. The seven programs––Big Brothers Big Sisters, LifeSkills Training, Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care, Multisystemic Therapy, Functional Family Therapy, Nurse-Family Partnership, and Strengthening Families 10-14––were found to offer a positive cost-benefit ratio ranging from $54 to nearly $80,000 per youth, collectively representing a total statewide return of over $317 million.
“These programs have been carefully researched and proven to prevent and reduce youth violence, delinquency and drug use, improving developmental outcomes for children and families,” said Dr. Mark Greenberg, Director of the Penn State Prevention Research Center. “The results are indisputable: these programs are not only effective for families, they are also a cost-effective, wise investment of taxpayer dollars that will continue to pay dividends for years to come.”
“We’ve made very deliberate, thoughtful investments in programs that we know work,” said Michael Pennington, Director of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. “It is one thing to get tough on crime, but we also need to be smart about preventing kids from becoming the next generation of adult criminals.”
“This report comes at a critical time. Pennsylvania is facing a prison overcrowding crisis and the Department of Corrections is asking for nearly $700 million to build more prison cells,” said Brian Bumbarger, Director of Policy Research and Outreach for the Penn State Prevention Research Center and co-author of the report. “Given the current rate of inmate population growth, the Commonwealth can spend $700 million on new prison construction and we’ll still be overcrowded by more than 9,000 inmates within 5 years. Investing in prevention programs that work is the only way we’re going to get a handle on prison overcrowding over the next decade.”
“Those of us on the front lines in the fight against crime understand that we’ll never be able to just arrest and imprison our way out of the crime problem,” said Cumberland County District Attorney David J. Freed. “Pennsylvania’s commitment to putting criminals in jail must be matched by our commitment to keeping kids from becoming criminals in the first place by investing in programs shown by research to be effective.”
The report reveals that the adoption of policies developed to ensure a greater investment in prevention and promotion of the use of evidence-based programs will ultimately result in fewer prison admissions. The programs have the very real potential to reduce the juvenile and adult prison population over time. A reduction of only 5% in the number of adults and juveniles locked up in one year would free nearly $84 million to support new or expanded prevention programs.
The full report, The Economic Return on PCCD’s Investment in Research-based Programs: A Cost-benefit Assessment of Delinquency Prevention in Pennsylvania, is available on the Penn State Prevention Research Center’s website at www.prevention.psu.edu.
Prevention Research Center to study ways to reduce aggression in youth
March 28, 2008
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State Prevention Research Center has received a $3.9 million state grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health to study interventions to build resilience and reduce aggression in young children.
The Penn State project continues long-term partnerships with The Harrisburg School District and Hempfield Behavioral Health.
The project will focus on gaining a better understanding of factors related to aggressive behavior and social-emotional competence in children when they first enter school. Researchers will develop and evaluate a multi-component prevention program targeted to help parents and teachers support healthy social and academic development in children who show early signs of aggression. Five areas of development and functioning will be enhanced: parenting in the home; peer relations; child coping and problem-solving skills; classroom atmosphere and curriculum; and home-school relations.
Researchers also will assess various neurobiological factors may be related to aggressive behavior and how they are modified by this preventive program. This information can be used to better assess and support children to improve school readiness and mental health.
The leaders of the Penn State project include Dr. Mark Greenberg, PRC Director; Dr. Karen Bierman, distinguished professor of psychology, College of the Liberal Arts; Drs. Lisa Gatzke-Kopp, assistant professor of human development, Clancy Blair and Emilie Smith, both associate professor of human development and family studies, College of Health and Human Development; and Dr. Tom Farmer, associate professor of special education, College of Education.
The grant is one of five recently awarded by the state with funds from Pennsylvania's share of the national tobacco settlement. The 2007 grant priorities were regenerative medicine and violence prevention. Each research grant is also required to address the reduction of health disparities among underserved segments of the population, and to include research training programs for minority students and faculty in order to diversity the applicant pool for high-level training positions. These grants are awarded as part of the Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, which supports clinical, health services and biomedical research.
State Health Secretary Dr. Calvin Johnson says, "This research involves collaborative 'Center of Excellence' efforts integrating research from several disciplines to address diseases and medical conditions, health disparities and health outcomes. These grants reaffirm Governor Rendell's commitment to using the tobacco settlement dollars to improve public health and increase the research infrastructure and capacity in Pennsylvania."
Greenberg Moderates Panel with The Dalai Lama at Historic Gathering to Celebrate Children and Compassion
Dr. Mark Greenberg, Director of the Penn State Prevention Research Center and Edna Bennett Chair and Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, moderated a panel of international scholars with His Holiness The Dalai Lama at the “Exploring the Seeds of Compassion” event in Seattle, Washington, on April 11–15, 2008. The panel was part of a five-day discussion featuring The Dalai Lama on ways that parents and caregivers can show love and compassion that positively affect the social and emotional learning of children from birth to age five.
Dr. Greenberg’s panel, “From Knowledge to Compassion Action: What We All Can Do,” occurred on Friday, April 11, from 12:30–2 p.m. PST, and featured John Gottman, author of “How to Raise an Emotionally Secure Child”; Bob Marvin, Co-Originator of Circle of Security; Karen Gordon, Founding Executive Director of Whole Child International; Mary Gordon, Founder/President, Roots of Empathy; and Roger Weissberg, President, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning.
The Seeds of Compassion event was organized to celebrate and explore the relationships, programs, and tools that nurture and empower children, families, and communities to be compassionate members of society. A fundamental part of the dialogue held at this gathering explored the scientific basis for the development and growth of compassion and foundational social and emotional skills beginning at birth.
The event was webcas and can be viewed at: www.seedsofcompassion.org/webcast/index.html
New Evaluation Report Demonstrates Effectiveness of Harrisburg Preschool Program
Harrisburg, PA – According to a recently completed evaluation of the Harrisburg Preschool Program (HPP), a five-year project funded by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation that focused on at-risk 3- and 4-year-old children in the Harrisburg School District, HPP students who now attend kindergarten in the District are demonstrating significantly higher academic skills in early literacy and mathematics than children who did not attend HPP.
HPP is a collaborative program involving the Harrisburg School District (HSD) and Capital Area Head Start (CAHS), commissioned by Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed in 2001 to provide comprehensive, high-quality preschool services to at-risk 3- and 4-year-old children in the District. [more]
Proven-effective Programs Reducing Youth Violence and Delinquency in Pennsylvania
A report recently completed by the Prevention Research Center at Penn State shows communities are beginning to experience the positive impact of violence prevention efforts supported by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency’s Research-based Programs Initiative. The report confirms that the PCCD’s investment of more than $60 million since 1998 in the implementation of over 140 proven-effective prevention programs is making a significant difference in Pennsylvania communities by reducing youth drug use and antisocial behavior, preventing school bullying, and strengthening families. Each of the programs in this initiative has been selected based on strong evidence of effectiveness in well-controlled research studies. [more]
Penn State Receives $5.7 Million Grant to Help Youth Avoid Problems
Penn State University has received a $5.7 million federal grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to continue the development of community partnerships that strengthen families and help young people avoid substance abuse and behavioral problems. The new award will support PROSPER—PROmoting School-community-university Partnerships to Enhance Resilience—for an additional five years. The total award to Penn State and its partner, Iowa State University, is $11.6 million.
Since 2002, in collaboration with Iowa State and through partnerships established with local communities and assisted by Penn State Extension, the Penn State Prevention Research Center (PRC) has been conducting research to promote capable and healthy youths, adults and families. PROSPER seeks to strengthen families and communities, promote positive youth development, and reduce youth substance use and other problem behaviors––literally helping families and their communities "prosper" through various intervention methods recommended by Penn State researchers. [more]
News Archive
An archived list of past news from the Prevention Research Center.