An elementary school program that aimed to build children’s social skills and emotional control seems to have had long-lasting effects, according to researchers.

Their study found that students who began the program before fifth grade ended up going further in their education, and had higher employment rates and greater emotional and mental well-being at the age of 21 than their peers who did not take part in the program.

The findings appear in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

The study evaluated the long-range effects of an intervention begun in 1981 in public elementary schools in high-crime areas of Seattle. In some of the 18 schools in the study, children took part in a program designed to teach them impulse control, how to resolve problems without being aggressive and how to think through the possible consequences of their actions.

In addition, teachers received training in classroom management, and parents were offered classes on managing their children’s behavior and helping them do well in school.

Children in the full-intervention group received classes in grades 1 through 6, while those in an abbreviated form of the program took part only in fifth and sixth grades. A third group of children who did not receive the lessons served as a comparison group.

By the age of 21, among the 605 former students who could be interviewed, those who had attended the full program were more likely than the comparison group to have graduated from high school, completed at least two years of college, or to currently have a job.]

They were also more optimistic about the future, tended to have better emotional health and were less likely to have been involved in crime or to have abused drugs or alcohol, according to the study authors, led by Dr. J. David Hawkins, a professor of social work at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Back when the intervention began, Hawkins told Reuters Health, the hope was that it would help children form a bond with their schools and family that would put them on a “positive trajectory” lasting into adulthood. Previous research following the same students had shown that children in the program were more involved at school, and tended to have better grades and fewer behavioral problems.

“What’s interesting,” Hawkins said, “is that the effects do seem to last.”

He pointed to the program’s focus on building children’s emotional control and their ability to recognize the feelings of others and resolve conflicts without resorting to aggression. “We can’t neglect teaching kids these things,” Hawkins said.

The current findings suggest such lessons need to begin early, according to the researcher. Adults who had started the program in fifth grade rather than first tended to have better outcomes than the comparison group, but they did not fare as well as those in the full program.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, January 2005.