JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 34, No. 1, 75–87 (2006) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/jcop.20084 Work on this paper was supported by the Bennett Graduate Fellows Program of the Penn State Prevention Research Center. The author would like to thank Dr. Mark T. Greenberg, Prevention Research Center, The Pennsylvania State University, and Dr. Howard Rosen for collaborating on the evaluation of Generacion Diez. The author would also like to thank Carmen Medina, Director of Generacion Diez, for this long-term collabo- ration and for the able assistance of her staff. Generacion Diez is funded in part by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers, grant number A012784. Correspondence to: Nathaniel R. Riggs, University of Southern California, Institute for Prevention Research, 1000 S. Fremont Ave., Unit #8, Alhambra, CA 91803. E-mail: nriggs@usc.edu AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM ATTENDANCE AND THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RURAL LATINO CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES Nathaniel R. Riggs Institute for Prevention Research at the University of Southern California One difficulty of evaluating after-school programs is that providers often lack resources necessary to employ rigorous evaluation designs. One strategy is to investigate the relationship between attendance and outcomes while covarying for important potentially confounding variables. The current study investigates the influence of after-school program attendance on immigrant Latino children’s (N = 94) social development. Hierarchical linear regressions indicated that after covarying for other important variables, high program dosage was related to increased social competence and decreased behavior problems. Implications of this research are that after-school programs may promote the positive youth development of immigrant Latino children, that it is important that attendance data be collected when evaluating after-school programs, and that community-funded research can lead to scientifically relevant findings. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. A number of social forces are reshaping the landscape of the family, school, and commu- nity in ways that affect young people. Factors operating within the social contexts affect- ing children’s lives, such as high rates of family mobility; changing patterns in parental employment; larger, more heterogeneous schools; media themes of violence and drug use; and the deterioration and disorganization of neighborhoods and schools have weak- ened the formal and informal supports once available to youth (National Research ARTICLE