Children from lower-income and diverse families are at a higher risk for social-emotional and academic difficulties. Implementation of early childhood interventions plays a crucial role in the healthy development of children’s social-emotional development. Merrell’s Strong Kids (Merrell et al., 2009), a commonly used SEL class-wide intervention, facilitates learning of the five core SEL components through weekly lessons and has been shown to have long-term improvements on children’s internalizing symptoms, social and emotional knowledge, student-teacher relationships, prosocial behaviors, and is well received by teachers. The current study examined the efficacy of Strong Kids implemented as a one-on-one intervention, rather than a class-wide or group intervention, for at-risk preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start programs. A single-case design was used, which included 3 children from a rural Head Start center in the southeast of the U.S. Additionally, systematic direct observations were used to measure behavior change. Results demonstrated that Strong Kids, implemented at the individual level, successfully increased children’s pro-social behaviors and decreased engagement in negative social behavior.
","abstract_html":"<p>Children from lower-income and diverse families are at a higher risk for social-emotional and academic difficulties. Implementation of early childhood interventions plays a crucial role in the healthy development of children’s social-emotional development. Merrell’s Strong Kids (Merrell et al., 2009), a commonly used SEL class-wide intervention, facilitates learning of the five core SEL components through weekly lessons and has been shown to have long-term improvements on children’s internalizing symptoms, social and emotional knowledge, student-teacher relationships, prosocial behaviors, and is well received by teachers. The current study examined the efficacy of Strong Kids implemented as a one-on-one intervention, rather than a class-wide or group intervention, for at-risk preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start programs. A single-case design was used, which included 3 children from a rural Head Start center in the southeast of the U.S. Additionally, systematic direct observations were used to measure behavior change. Results demonstrated that Strong Kids, implemented at the individual level, successfully increased children’s pro-social behaviors and decreased engagement in negative social behavior.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["McEvoy, Merrick"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Emily DeFouw","Dr. Crystal N. Taylor","Dr. Zachary Labrot"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2024-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z","subjects":["Social emotional learning","head start","preschoolers","emotional regulation","strong kids intervention"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1054","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Emily DeFouw","Dr. Crystal N. Taylor","Dr. Zachary Labrot"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["McEvoy, Merrick"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2024-08-03T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Social emotional learning","head start","preschoolers","emotional regulation","strong kids intervention"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1054"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Children from lower-income and diverse families are at a higher risk for social-emotional and academic difficulties. Implementation of early childhood interventions plays a crucial role in the healthy development of children’s social-emotional development. Merrell’s Strong Kids (Merrell et al., 2009), a commonly used SEL class-wide intervention, facilitates learning of the five core SEL components through weekly lessons and has been shown to have long-term improvements on children’s internalizing symptoms, social and emotional knowledge, student-teacher relationships, prosocial behaviors, and is well received by teachers. The current study examined the efficacy of Strong Kids implemented as a one-on-one intervention, rather than a class-wide or group intervention, for at-risk preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start programs. A single-case design was used, which included 3 children from a rural Head Start center in the southeast of the U.S. Additionally, systematic direct observations were used to measure behavior change. Results demonstrated that Strong Kids, implemented at the individual level, successfully increased children’s pro-social behaviors and decreased engagement in negative social behavior.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An Examination of the Strong Start Intervention to Support the Pro-Social Behaviors in At-Risk Head Start Students"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Emily DeFouw","Dr. Crystal N. Taylor","Dr. Zachary Labrot"],"dc:creator":["McEvoy, Merrick"],"dc:date.available":["2024-08-03T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Children from lower-income and diverse families are at a higher risk for social-emotional and academic difficulties. Implementation of early childhood interventions plays a crucial role in the healthy development of children’s social-emotional development. Merrell’s Strong Kids (Merrell et al., 2009), a commonly used SEL class-wide intervention, facilitates learning of the five core SEL components through weekly lessons and has been shown to have long-term improvements on children’s internalizing symptoms, social and emotional knowledge, student-teacher relationships, prosocial behaviors, and is well received by teachers. The current study examined the efficacy of Strong Kids implemented as a one-on-one intervention, rather than a class-wide or group intervention, for at-risk preschool-aged children enrolled in Head Start programs. A single-case design was used, which included 3 children from a rural Head Start center in the southeast of the U.S. Additionally, systematic direct observations were used to measure behavior change. Results demonstrated that Strong Kids, implemented at the individual level, successfully increased children’s pro-social behaviors and decreased engagement in negative social behavior.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/1054"],"dc:subject":["Social emotional learning","head start","preschoolers","emotional regulation","strong kids intervention"],"dc:title":["An Examination of the Strong Start Intervention to Support the Pro-Social Behaviors in At-Risk Head Start Students"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:40Z"}