UNCORRECTED PROOF Please cite this article in press as: Ostrov, J. M., et al. An intervention for relational and physical aggression in early childhood: A preliminary study. Early Childhood Res Q (2008), doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2008.08.002 ARTICLE IN PRESS G Model EARCHI 401 1–14 Early Childhood Research Quarterly xxx (2008) xxx–xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Early Childhood Research Quarterly An intervention for relational and physical aggression in early childhood: A preliminary study 1 2 Jamie M. Ostrov ∗ , Greta M. Massetti 1 , Kirstin Stauffacher, Stephanie A. Godleski, Katie C. Hart, Kathryn M. Karch, Adam D. Mullins, Emily E. Ries 1 2 University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260-4110, USA 3 3 article info 4 5 Article history: 6 Received 8 February 2008 7 Received in revised form 20 August 2008 8 Accepted 25 August 2008 9 10 Keywords: 11 Relational aggression 12 Physical aggression 13 Victimization 14 Intervention 15 Early childhood 16 Prosocial behavior 17 abstract A preventive intervention for reducing physical and relational aggression, peer victimiza- tion, and increasing prosocial behavior was developed for use in early childhood classrooms. Nine classrooms were randomly assigned to be intervention rooms (N = 202 children) and nine classrooms were control rooms (N =201 children). Classroom was the unit of analysis and both observations and teacher-reports were obtained at pre and post-test. Focus groups were used to develop the initial program. The 6-week program consisted of developmentally appropriate puppet shows, active participatory sessions, passive concept activities and in vivo reinforcement periods. Preliminary findings suggest that the “Early Childhood Friend- ship Project” tended to reduce physical and relational aggression, as well as physical and relational victimization and tended to increase prosocial behavior more for intervention than control classrooms. Teachers and interventionists provided positive evaluations of the program and there is evidence for appropriate program implementation. © 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. Peer relationships serve as a salient context for children’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physiological development 18 across the lifespan (Hartup, 1996; Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 2006). Developmental psychology and psychopathology liter- 19 atures indicate that the skills acquired within peer relationships (e.g., conflict resolution, emotion regulation, perspective 20 taking, friendship formation, and social competence) during children’s early school years significantly impact children’s 21 interpersonal relationships in subsequent developmental periods (for review, see Sroufe, Egeland, & Carlson, 1999). Signifi- 22 cant problems with peer relations may also lead to peer rejection, victimization, social withdrawal, internalizing problems, 23 or externalizing problems, including aggressive behavior, all of which may negatively affect academic competence and the 24 transition to school (e.g., Belsky & MacKinnon, 1994; Buhs & Ladd, 2001; Rimm-Kaufman & Pianta, 2000). Arguably the 25 earlier we intervene for aggression, the greater the probability of children improving (Sroufe, 1997), which was the impetus 26 for designing a classroom-based intervention for early childhood in the present study. 27 Children from high-risk environments (e.g., high crime and low SES neighborhoods) may begin school with problems 28 in impulse and/or emotional control and social problem solving (Lochman, Lampron, & Rabiner, 1989; Shaw, Keenan, & 29 Vondra, 1997). These children are subsequently more likely to engage in aggressive social behavior and to experience peer 30 rejection (e.g., Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1995). These children’s difficulties are compounded by academic problems that are 31 intertwined with and exacerbated by behavior problems (Hinshaw, 1994). To impact such pervasive problems, interventions 32 must therefore target educational systems to address multiple contextual factors contributing to the development and 33 ∗ Corresponding author at: 214 Park Hall, Department of Psychology, Buffalo, NY 14260-4110, USA. Fax: +1 716 645 3801. E-mail address: jostrov@buffalo.edu (J.M. Ostrov). 1 The author is now at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. 0885-2006/$ – see front matter © 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.ecresq.2008.08.002