Inhibitory Control, Emotion Regulation, and Physiological Stress Activity Moderates Behavioral Improvements in Response to a School-Based Intervention

Understanding which interventions work best for who is a critical, yet unresolved, issue in the prevention sciences. There has been a paucity of research on the processes (e.g., neurocognition, emotion regulation, and stress physiology) underlying socio-emotional competency skills that have repeatedly been shown to predict high-risk behaviors. Given growing evidence that a high level of brain plasticity characterizes the early stages of development, a transdisciplinary and translational investigation of this type has great potential for identifying individual level characteristics that may interfere with favorable outcomes, thus requiring more targeted and effective programming. The present study is the first in-depth school-based intervention trial to infuse relevant aspects of cognitive neuroscience with existing theories of developmental psychology and prevention science. The ultimate goal is to identify underlying conditions (inhibitory control, emotional regulation, and stress physiology) that may moderate intervention effects on behavior in the early years of schooling.  Thus, we conducted a theory-driven examination of Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS), an evidence-based model with replicated effects on self-regulatory behaviors, to understand for whom the intervention works best.

The PATHS program was implemented in two Baltimore City kindergarten (K) classrooms through first grade with an additional two demographically similar schools randomized to receive an active control condition (N > 300). These schools serve income neighborhoods with relatively low academic achievement and a high level of behavioral problems. Two cohorts of students received PATHS for two consecutive years, while the control schools received professional development workshops. Baseline testing was conducted in the fall for both K cohorts to assess background and behavioral factors, cognitive functioning, emotional regulation, and measures of skin conductance and heart rate variability. Testing was repeated at the completion of the school year and again after first grade and midway through second grade.  Preliminary results reveal that certain measures of baseline inhibitory control, emotion regulation and physiology moderated the effects of the intervention on behavioral change.  Children with the lowest level of IQ showed significantly greater improvements than higher functioning children and children in the control condition. However, deficits in other more complex IC and ER were predictive of worse outcomes.  A potential theory-based explanation will be presented. This study represents a substantial innovation in the field with implications for improving behavioral self-regulation in young children.