The importance of bonding to school for healthy development: findings from the Social Development Research Group.

Summary of Etiological Analyses. T his analysis confirm ed the im portance of school bonding to child devel-opm ent. V arious techniques w ere used to exam ine the rela-tionship betw een school bonding and positive and problembehavior, and these relationships w ere found during child-h o o d and ad o lescen ce. S chool b o n d in g in elem en taryschool w as related to initiation of drinking, sm oking, andalcohol abuse and dependence at age 2 1 . It also related tolow er likelihood of becom ing serious offenders in m iddleschool and joining a gang in adolescence. E lem entary andm iddle school bonding had a negative effect on violence inm iddle school through age 2 1 . It also reduced the chance ofschool m isbehavior, grade repetition , and dropout. S choolbonding also affected positive developm ent. S chool bond-ing w as associated w ith increases in academ ic achievem entand social skills . S chool bonding effects extended to high -risk groups including aggressive boys, children w ith parent sw ho m odeled problem behaviors, and children from low -incom e fam ilies. S chool bonding in m iddle school w asrelated to desistance of serious delinquent behavior. T herelationship w as m aintained through age 2 1 , w ith studentsreporting greater school bonding in sevent h grade m orelikely to desist rather than escalate the seriousness of theiroffending. S chool bonding in m iddle school and the patternof bonding throughout m iddle and high school also relatedto reduced levels of substance use in 12th grade. T h u s,school bonding during elem entary and m iddle school w asconsistently related negatively to problem behaviors in thislongitudinal study.S everal com peting factors that m ight explain the rela-tionship betw een school bonding and problem behaviorsw ere controlle d in the analyses, lending credibilit y to thepotential causal effect of school bonding. H ow ever, w hilenonexperim ental, longitudinal studies establish tim e order,they do not establish cause. A stronger criterion for estab-lishing the causal effect of school bonding com es fromintervention studies aim ed at changing the levels of schoolbonding and exam ining the effects on positive and problembehavior. S tatistically significant results of the preventionexperim ent em bedded w ithin S S D P are described below .

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