Examining the good behavior game plus intervention’s mechanisms of change: What factors lead to long-term academic improvements? US: ProQuest Information & Learning; 2015
One year of first-grade Good Behavior Game Plus (GBGP) intervention has been linked to long-term academic outcomes including higher test scores and greater likelihood of high school graduation (Bradshaw, Zmuda, Kellam, & Ialongo, 2009). This study investigated potential mechanisms through which these benefits were produced, specifically examining proximal and distal mediators, including academic skills, social relations, and self-perceived academic competence. To better understand how the GBGP intervention affects boys versus girls, this study examined sex as a moderator of GBGP outcomes. This study further investigated if the proposed mediators account for sex differences in GBGP outcomes (i.e. mediated moderation) and if the mediators of GBGP outcomes differ depending on students’ sex (i.e. moderated mediation). Results revealed that seventh-grade academic skills were significant mediators of twelfth-grade academic outcomes; however, no proximal mediators of seventh-grade academic benefits were uncovered. Sex differences were detected in first- and seventh-grade reading performance, and first-grade reading significantly mediated the sex differences in seventh-grade (i.e. mediated moderation). Furthermore, seventh-grade reading scores mediated twelfth-grade reading for boys but not for girls, indicating moderated mediation. Overall, these results support previous research showing that prior academic skills are most predictive of later academic performance (e.g. Duncan et al., 2007). It is important to note that without uncovering proximal mediators of GBGP effects, there remains a missing link in the chain of mediation. Additional research is needed to determine the initial mechanisms through which the GBGP intervention leads to its academic benefits.
Citation: Van Gessel C. Examining the good behavior game plus intervention’s mechanisms of change: What factors lead to long-term academic improvements? US: ProQuest Information & Learning; 2015