Short- and Long-term Impacts of a Coercion Theory–Based Intervention on Aggression on the School Playground

Aggression between students at school is a common problem, particularly within the context of the school playground. Key mechanisms in coercion theory, including positive and negative reinforcement for aggression and peer deviancy training, can operate with abandon on school playgrounds without adult supervision, monitoring, and appropriate intervention. The Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) multimodal preventive intervention, designed to address aggression on the playground, is described. The short-term and intermediate follow-up findings from a randomized controlled trial of LIFT on aggression on the playground as well as other forms of child antisocial behavior are overviewed. Long-term follow-up findings on the relations between playground aggression and antisocial behaviors during mid-adolescence and emerging adulthood are then reported. It is argued that to be effective, coercion theory–based prevention programs like LIFT need to continue across elementary school and into secondary school, rather than be delivered at only one point in time.