Adolescent Acts of Kindness Intervention

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

97 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2017-10-08

Study Completion Date

2019-01-13

Brief Summary

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Adolescents will complete a 4-week intervention, during which they will either complete a kind act for others, complete a kind act for themselves, or report their daily activities three days per week. Psychological and physiological measures will be indexed before and after the intervention.

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Detailed Description

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Stress and early adversity have been found to influence immune function via enhanced expression of the conserved transcriptional response to adversity (CTRA) genetic profile. Expression of this genetic profile was reduced in adults who completed a prosocial behavior intervention. This project aims to implement this intervention in adolescents. 90 high school students will be recruited and assigned to one of three groups (30/group). Participants will either conduct 3 acts of kindness for themselves, conduct 3 acts of kindness for others, or report about their day 3 times per week for 4 weeks. During this intervention, they will receive text messages 3 days per week instructing them to complete their respective act. Participants will provide a brief description of this act that evening, as well as complete brief surveys at the end of the week for each week of the intervention. Participants will come into the lab twice, once before and once after the 4-week intervention. During these lab sessions participants will complete survey measures, have their heart rate measured, and have a blood draw conducted by a trained phlebotomist. Participants' parents will also complete a brief survey to provide demographic information and an idea of what prosocial behaviors participants witnessed in their home. The investigators will use these data to assess the effects of prosocial behavior on health and the psychological mechanisms underlying these effects. At the second study visit, participants will be given the opportunity to donate part of their study payment to a charity to measure prosociality. Any donations will be vetted with the psychology department's accounting group prior to making any donations in the university's name. Scott Monatlik, Director, Tax and Information Practices, at [email protected] or (310) 794-6724 will be contacted and information regarding the appropriate steps to take to ensure that the donation is made to an acceptable charity prior to any donations. Actual helping behavior (donations) is measured to provide an ecologically valid experimental evaluation of prosociality rather than traditional metrics of computerized, fictional giving. Conceptual frameworks from developmental and health psychology guide the hypothesis that prosocial behavior will influence adolescents.

Conditions

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Inflammation Mental Health Wellness 1

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

90 participants will randomly be assigned to one of three interventions. Participants will complete a 4-week intervention. All outcomes will be measured before and after the intervention, and some psychological measures will be collected weekly throughout the intervention.

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

SINGLE

Participants

Participants will be told that the investigatos are studying the daily lives of teens. They will not be informed of the other arms of the experiment.

Study Groups

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Kindness to Others

Participants will complete the 'Other-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention' by performing acts of kindness for others. They be asked to complete 3 kind acts for others throughout the week for 4 weeks. They will receive text messages three days per week (either Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and will report on their kind act later that day.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Other-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants engage in positive behaviors by completing acts of kindness for others three times per week. These acts should require effort and be outside of an individual's normal routine.

Kindness to Self

Participants will complete the 'Self-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention' by performing acts of kindness for themselves. They be asked to complete 3 kind acts for others throughout the week for 4 weeks. They will receive text messages three days per week (either Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and will report on their kind act later that day.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Self-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants engage in positive behaviors by completing acts of kindness for themselves three times per week. These acts should require effort and be outside of an individual's normal routine.

Daily Report

Participants will complete the 'Daily Reports' and be asked to report their daily activities throughout the week for 4 weeks. They will receive text messages three days per week (either Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday or Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and will list activities from their day.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Daily Reports

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will report their daily activities three times per week. Aside from reporting at the end of the day, no changes should be made to the individual's normal routine.

Interventions

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Self-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention

Participants engage in positive behaviors by completing acts of kindness for themselves three times per week. These acts should require effort and be outside of an individual's normal routine.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other-Focused Acts of Kindness Intervention

Participants engage in positive behaviors by completing acts of kindness for others three times per week. These acts should require effort and be outside of an individual's normal routine.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Daily Reports

Participants will report their daily activities three times per week. Aside from reporting at the end of the day, no changes should be made to the individual's normal routine.

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL