The moderating effects of school resources on the impact of a school-based intervention on the social information-processing skills of third graders in rural China

Using a school-based intervention, Let's Be Friends (LBF), designed to promote the social information-processing (SIP) skills of third-grade children in rural China, the specific aim of this study was to assess the moderating effects of school characteristics on program outcomes. We systematically tested the moderating effects of six school-resource variables (i.e., student–teacher ratio, school size, number of library books per student, number of computers per 100 students, percentage of teachers with middle- and high-level titles, and percentage of teachers with high-level title or “backbone” recognition) on outcomes in a controlled trial of LBF program. School resources (i.e., small school size, low student–teacher ratio, and more teachers with high-level title or backbone) were associated with SIP skill acquisition, reduced aggressive behavior, and higher cognitive concentration. School contextual characteristics condition the impact of social-emotional education programs in Chinese rural primary schools.