Intervention Based on Implicit Theories of Personality: Effects on Depression and Bullying (ITP)

University of Deusto

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression; Bullying

Treatments: Behavioral: Incremental theory of personality; Other: Educational Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03481699

PSI2015-68426-R

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study evaluates the efficacy of an intervention based on the Implicit Theories of Personality (ITP) in Spanish adolescents. Half of participants received the ITP intervention, while the other half received an educational intervention.

Full description

Depression and bullying are two problems arising in childhood and adolescence, which cause severe suffering. Although there are good intervention programs for children and adolescents at risk, the results for universal interventions have generally been poor. The current project will test the efficacy of an Intervention based on the Implicit Theories of Personality (ITP). This procedure has recently been developed at US by David S. Yeager and colleagues, with extraordinary results in the reduction of depression, stress, and aggression. The project includes the following aims: (1) the evaluation of the efficacy of the ITP on depressive symptoms (Study 1) and aggressive behavior (Study 2) in Spanish adolescents; (2) to test whether the intervention changes biological and cognitive variables; (3) to identify whether development and sex moderates the effects of the intervention; and (4) to test whether temperament moderates the effect of the intervention. The study involves the evaluation of the intervention in a sample of around 900 adolescents (12-18 years), randomly allocated to experimental and control condition. It is a field experiment conducted in high schools and involves multiple measures over time (self-reports and parent reports; as well as levels of cortisol, testosterone and DHEA in saliva in a subset -50%- of the participants). In summary, the project aims to respond to the challenge of health and wellness in the population through a randomized controlled trial with multiple sources of measure and from a biopsychosocial perspective. The ITP intervention has the potential to become a universal intervention to help reduce the rates of depression and bullying.

Enrollment: 882 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 12 to 18 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Informed consent by the adolescents and their parents.
• To be fluent in Spanish.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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882 participants in 2 patient groups

Incremental theory of personality

Experimental group

Description:

1 hour behavioral intervention (based on ITP) consisting on several tasks to be completed on paper individually.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Incremental theory of personality

Educational intervention

Other group

Description:

1 hour educational intervention (about the human brain) consisting on several tasks to be completed on paper individually.

Treatment:

Other: Educational Intervention