Who developed the Raising Healthy Children program?
It was developed by J. David Hawkins, Ph.D., and Richard F. Catalano, Ph.D., professors of social work and directors of the Social Development Research Group at the University of Washington. Dr. Hawkins and Dr. Catalano, pioneers in the field of prevention research and developers of the Social Development Strategy, are internationally known for their groundbreaking work in the area of risk and protective factors. How do we know that the Raising Healthy Children program works? In the most recent follow-up study, researchers found that the benefits of the SSDP lasted through the age of 21. Female students who participated in the SSDP were less likely to be pregnant by age 21 (38% compared with 56% of the control group). In previous studies, students who participated in the SSDP were 19% less likely to commit a violent delinquent act, 39% less likely to engage in heavy drinking, and 21% less likely to have been referred to school authorities because of misbehavior. The SSDP participants a
