2012 · Study · English
How Has the Economic Downturn Affected Communities and Implementation of Science-Based Prevention in the Randomized Trial of Communities That Care?
Kuklinski, M. R., Hawkins, J. D., Plotnick, R. D., Abbott, R. D., & Reid, C. K.
Kuklinski, M. R., Hawkins, J. D., Plotnick, R. D., Abbott, R. D., & Reid, C. K. (2012). How Has the Economic Downturn Affected Communities and Implementation of Science-Based Prevention in the Randomized Trial of Communities That Care? American Journal of Community Psychology, 51(3-4), 370–384. doi.org/10.1007/s10464-012-9557-z
Summary
Analysis in the American Journal of Community Psychology of what the recession that began in December 2007 did to the CTC trial and to prevention in its communities. Using archival economic indicators and key-leader reports, the authors gauge how hard each of the 24 communities was hit, whether the downturn threatened the internal validity of the randomised design, and whether stronger local impacts went with reduced implementation of science-based prevention. The downturn affected communities to different degrees but showed no systematic difference between CTC and control conditions, so the trial’s comparison stood. The Community Economic Problems scale proved reliable and correlated with objective indicators. Two years into the recession, CTC coalitions were still implementing science-based prevention to a significantly greater degree than control coalitions, but their implementation levels fell somewhat as unemployment, free-school-meal eligibility and reported economic problems rose; control coalitions, whose implementation was low throughout, showed no such relationship. Directly relevant to European coalitions working through municipal austerity.