Kindergarteners with Good Social Skills More Likely to Succeed as Adults

Kindergarteners with Good Social Skills
More Likely to Succeed as Adults

A comprehensive study of 800 children, conducted over a period of 20 years from kindergarten through their mid-20’s, reports those who learned social skills of helpfulness and sharing at an early age were more likely to have achieved success by early adulthood. Youngsters who had problems resolving conflicts, sharing, cooperating, and listening were less likely to have completed high school and college, and more likely to have problems with substance abuse.

The study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2015, illustrates an important connection between brain health and a person’s overall health. Researchers found that success in school involves both social-emotional and cognitive skills because social interactions, attention, and self-control affect readiness for learning. When children learn to interact effectively with peers and control their emotions, it can have an enormous impact on how their adult lives take shape. More about the study can be found in the American Journal of Public Health at http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302630

We have an amazing staff of teachers at InnerAct Alliance who present prevention education programs like The PAX Good Behavior Game, along with Keep A Clear Mind, Too Good for Drugs and Violence, Project ALERT, Project Towards No Drug Abuse, as well as Social Norms in our local schools. These best practice educational programs have proven to positively influence students’ attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions regarding alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drug use, bullying, violence, and other risky behaviors. The prosocial behaviors studied by our colleagues at Penn State University and reported in this study are precisely the behaviors that the PAX Good Behavior Game changes through its environmental approach to create a classroom environment that is conducive to learning, reduces off-task behavior, increases attentiveness, and decreases aggressive and disruptive behavior. This coming school year PAXIS will provide an optional survey to all our sites as a predictor to show funders and communities that PAX changes these behaviors quickly and sustainably. Additional info on how PAX GBG scaffolds the skill development referenced in this study can be found at:  http://bit.ly/FAST-Track-PAX.

Sources:http://www.upworthy.com/researchers-studied-kindergarteners-behavior-and-followed-up-19-years-later-here-are-the-findings