Empowering Youth With School Discipline Referrals as Peer Coaches

The study will examine the effects of Peer Coach Training (PCT), a strengths-based behavioral intervention for discipline-referred middle-school youth who might benefit when trained to act as change agents for their peers. Successful completion of this study will provide support for implementing PCT in school communities to empower youth in prosocial peer engagement.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Disruptive Behavior
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Peer Coach Training (PCT); Behavioral: Delayed control

Detailed Description

In this proposal, the investigators evaluate the effects of PCT, an approach that deemphasizes existing problems and focuses instead on training youth to help their peers.

In urban public school districts across the US, exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspension and expulsion) disproportionally affects Black and Latinx youth. Although many school-based interventions are promising, they overlook the motivational potential of helping others and fail to build on the culturally grounded prosocial orientation of Black and Latinx students. This study evaluates the effectiveness of Peer Coach Training (PCT), a strengths-based intervention that deemphasizes existing problems and focuses instead on empowering youth to help their peers. A cluster randomized trial will be conducted across ten middle schools (n=150 youth), with schools randomized to either PCT or control (i.e., delayed treatment). Youth referred for disruptive behavior at intervention schools will receive PCT immediately, whereas youth at control schools will receive PCT nine months later. Outcomes related to disruptive and prosocial behavior, school engagement, and empowerment will be assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up. Successful completion of this trial will not only provide support for implementing PCT in school communities to empower youth prosocially, but also potentially validate an approach to reducing discipline disparities within school contexts.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 150
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Stanley J Huey, Ph.D.; Phone Number: 213-740-2033; Email: hueyjr@usc.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Janus Wong, B.A.; Phone Number: 213-740-2203; Email: januswon@usc.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • California
    • Los Angeles, California, United States, 90007
      • Recruiting
      • University of Southern California
      • Contact: Janus Wong, B.A.; Phone Number: 213-740-2203; Email: januswon@usc.edu
      • Contact: Janus J Wong, Ph.D.; Phone Number: 9173856245; Email: januswon@usc.edu

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Youth who have received at least one disciplinary referral between the first day of school and recruitment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Youth who have not received any disciplinary referrals between the first day of school and recruitment

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Peer Coach Training (PCT); Discipline-referred middle-school youth in schools randomized to the experimental arm will be offered immediate PCT delivered by trained research team members	Behavioral: Peer Coach Training (PCT); Six to seven session strengths-based behavioral intervention focusing on skills development and help-giving practices
Active Comparator: Delayed control; Discipline-referred middle-school youth in schools randomized to the delayed control will be provided behavioral services according to their middle school's standard practice of care. These youth will receive PCT after completion of follow-up assessments.	Behavioral: Delayed control; Services offered by middle schools for students according to their standard practice of care. These youth will then receive PCT after completion of follow-up assessments.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Behavioral Problem Checklist	12-item self-report questionnaire that assesses youth behavioral problems	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire	25-item self-report questionnaire that assesses youth emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems, and prosocial behavior, along with additional questions related to functioning	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Teacher Disruptive Behavior Disorders Rating Scale	45-item self-report questionnaire that assesses symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
School archival data of youth behavior and discipline	School archival records of behavioral and disciplinary outcomes such as the number of disciplinary referrals and citations, as well as suspensions and exclusions	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Engagement versus disaffection with learning - student report	20-item self-report questionnaire that assesses youth behavioral and emotional engagement in learning	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status - Youth Version	2-item self-report measure that assesses youths' perceived social status relative to society and peers in school	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessmentMacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status - Youth Version
Moral Identity Internalization Scale	5-item self-report measure that assesses the degree to which a list of personal characteristics are important to an individual	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Personal Efficacy Scale	10-item self-report measure that assesses an individual's perceived ability to deal with challenges and influence outcomes	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Psychological Empowerment Indices - Youth School Belonging and Identification	6-item self-report measure that assesses school belonging and identification	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Wentzel Prosocial Peer Goals and Compliance Goals Scales	22-item self-report measure that assesses the frequency youth work towards prosocial, compliance, mastery, and evaluation goals	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Esbensen Gang Involvement Scale	20-item self-report measure that assesses the level of youth gang involvement and behaviors of the youths' friends	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Possible selves survey	Self-report measure that assesses youths' future-oriented self-concept (expected, hoped-for, and feared selves) using open-ended prompts and a rating scale	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Behavioral Problem Checklist - Youth Peer Assessment	12-item self-report questionnaire that assesses behavioral problems of the youths' peers	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale (Social Network Interview)	48-item interview that assesses youths' perceived social support from parents, teachers, classmates, and friends	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment
Teacher Construals Indices	23 self-report items that assesses teacher's commitment and feelings towards their students	Baseline assessment, 3 months after baseline assessment, 8 months after baseline assessment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Southern California
• Collaborators: Medical University of South Carolina

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 24, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 31, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 31, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 7, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 13, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 7, 2026
• Last Verified: March 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Disruptive behaviors; Strengths-based interventions; Help-giving; Youth prosociality; Discipline-referred middle-school youth
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Child Behavior; Problem Behavior
• Other Study ID Numbers: UP-25-00414; MG-203910 (Other Grant/Funding Number: William T. Grant Foundation)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No