Session: Testing the Limits and Assumptions of the Good Behavior Game: Findings From Three Randomized Controlled Trials (Society for Prevention Research 21st Annual Meeting)

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is a widely-used, universal, classroom-based preventive intervention which previous research has demonstrated significant impacts on multiple behavioral, educational, and mental health outcomes. As a result, it has been identified by several federal agencies and organizations as an evidence-based intervention. Even recently, SAMHSA launched a dissemination effort of the GBG to schools and communities across the country. Yet, there remain several unanswered questions regarding the program. For example, the effects of GBG have generally been strongest among youth with high baseline levels of aggressive-disruptive behavior problems. It is possible that there may be specific biological or genetic factors which account for some of this variability in program impacts.  Another question pertains to the impact of the GBG on the classroom context, relative to the individual student’s behavior as rated by teachers. As a result, additional research has been needed to tease apart individual change processes from the group changes which result from GBG implementation. Finally, there are questions regarding the impact of GBG when implemented in settings other than schools, such as after-school programs. While the core elements of the model can be implemented across contexts, it is likely that some elements need to be adapted for different settings; this, in turn, may influence the impact of the program on child outcomes.  To address these and other emerging research questions, we have organized a panel of prevention scientists who are involved in three randomized controlled trials (RCT) of the GBG in urban areas. The first trial includes a nearly 20-year follow up of children first exposed to GBG in first grade. The model was combined with an educational component, and tested in contrast to a family-centered program and a control. Genetic samples were obtained from the urban, primarily African American youth in the trial; the results indicated a significant interaction between the GBG intervention and a particular genetic profile of the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene. The second paper focuses on data from an RCT of GBG in a largely Hispanic school district, in which student behavior problems are examined via teacher report and observational measures. This study highlights the importance of the cultural and classroom contexts. Finally, the third RCT tests the GBG in an after-school setting, in which the impacts on problem behavior and positive youth development are reported. Implications of this work for further dissemination of the GBG are considered by an expert discussant who led some of the early RCTs of GBG and has been working with SAMHSA and other federal agencies to scale-up GBG.