Optimal dynamic pricing for public transportation considering consumer social learning.

Effective public transportation pricing strategies are critical to reducing traffic congestion and meeting consumer demand for sustainable urban development. In this study, we construct a dynamic game pricing model and a social learning network model for consumers of three modes of public transportation including metro, bus, and pa-transit. In the model, the metro, bus, and pa-transit operators maximize their profits through dynamic pricing optimization, and consumers maximize their utility by adjusting their travel habits through social learning in the social network. The reinforcement learning algorithm is applied to simulate the model, and the results show that: (1) as consumers' perceived sensitivity to different modes of travel increases, the market share and price of each mode of travel adjust accordingly. (2) When taking into account consumers' social learning behavior, the market share of metros remains high, while the market shares of buses and pa-transit are relatively low. (3) As consumers become more sensitive to their perception of each travel mode, operators invest more resources in improving service quality to gain market share, which in turn affects the price of each travel mode. Our results provide decision support for optimal pricing of urban public transportation.

Do children imitate even when it is costly? New insights from a novel task.

Children have a proclivity to learn through faithful imitation, but the extent to which this applies under significant cost remains unclear. To address this, we investigated whether 4- to 6-year-old children (N = 97) would stop imitating to forego a desirable food reward. We presented participants with a task involving arranging marshmallows and craft sticks, with the goal being either to collect marshmallows or build a tower. Children replicated the demonstrated actions with high fidelity regardless of the goal, but retrieved rewards differently. Children either copied the specific actions needed to build a tower, prioritizing tower completion over reward; or adopted a novel convention of stacking materials before collecting marshmallows, and developed their own method to achieve better outcomes. These results suggest children's social learning decisions are flexible and context-dependent, yet that when framed by an ostensive goal, children imitated in adherence to the goal despite incurring significant material costs.

Incorporating social justice learning into competency-based graduate nursing: A discussion of integrating pedagogies.

BACKGROUND: The impact of social inequity on the collective health of a society is well documented and, despite decades of research, the problem persists on a global scale. Nurse practitioners are competent to treat the downstream health effects of social inequity, but nursing students may lack the structural awareness to accurately target primary prevention efforts. OBJECTIVE: The authors discuss faculty preparation and pedagogical considerations when incorporating social justice learning into a graduate and post-graduate psychiatric nurse practitioner course. DESIGN/METHODS: Guided by Walter's Emancipatory Nursing Praxis model, several pedagogical strategies were developed to enhance graduate nursing students' awareness of oppressive and unjust realities in the healthcare setting. CONCLUSION: Emancipatory pedagogical strategies in competency-based graduate nursing education can enhance the transformative social learning essential for the development of health equity praxis.

The cost of social influence: Own-gender and gender-stereotype social learning biases in adolescents and adults.

Pervasive gender gaps in academic subject and career choices are likely to be underpinned by social influences, including gender stereotypes of competence in academic and career domains (e.g., men excel at engineering, women excel at care), and model-based social learning biases (i.e., selective copying of particular individuals). Here, we explore the influence of gender stereotypes on social learning decisions in adolescent and adult males and females. Participants (Exp 1: N = 69 adolescents; Exp 2: N = 265 adults) were presented with 16 difficult multiple-choice questions from stereotypically feminine (e.g., care) and masculine (e.g., engineering) domains. The answer choices included the correct response and three incorrect responses paired with a male model, a female model, or no model. Participants' gender stereotype knowledge and endorsement were measured, and adolescents (Exp. 1) listed their academic subject choices. As predicted, there was a bias towards copying answers paired with a model (Exp.1: 74%, Exp. 2: 65% ps < .001). This resulted in less success than would be expected by chance (Exp. 1: 12%, Exp. 2: 16% ps < .001), demonstrating a negative consequence of social information. Adults (Exp 2) showed gender stereotyped social learning biases; they were more likely to copy a male model in masculine questions and a female model in feminine questions (p = .012). However, adolescents (Exp 1) showed no evidence of this stereotype bias; rather, there was a tendency for male adolescents to copy male models regardless of domain (p = .004). This own-gender bias was not apparent in female adolescents. In Exp 1, endorsement of masculine stereotypes was positively associated with selecting more own-gender typical academic subjects at school and copying significantly more male models in the male questions. The current study provides evidence for the first time that decision-making in both adolescence and adulthood is impacted by gender biases.

Universal School-Based Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) for Diverse Student Subgroups: Implications for Enhancing Equity Through SEL.

School-based, universal social and emotional learning (SEL) has been widely practiced and promoted as a promising approach to prevent youth mental, emotional, and behavioral problems. Although prior research has accumulated robust evidence of the average effects of universal SEL, it remains unclear whether it works similarly or differentially across diverse sociocultural subgroups of students. Investigating subgroup effects has implications for understanding the impact of universal SEL on possible subgroup disparities in student social-emotional competence (SEC). This study examined whether the effects of a universal SEL program on student SEC development differed across diverse student subgroups classified by gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability status, and English learner status. Data came from student SEC progress monitoring collected during a 1-year quasi-experimental study of a universal SEL program (N = 1592; Grades K-2). The results of multigroup latent growth modeling suggest that (a) the intervention effects were slightly larger for Black students, compared to White or other racial-ethnic subgroups, and (b) the effects were not different across other examined subgroups. This study also found that in the comparison condition, the SEC disparities between Black and White students tended to widen throughout the year, whereas in the intervention condition, Black students showed a similar rate of growth as their White peers. Findings suggest that universal SEL may be similarly beneficial across many diverse student subgroups, while it may yield larger benefits among some racially marginalized subgroups, preventing racial disparities from further widening. Yet the benefits of SEL may not be sufficient to reduce existing subgroup disparities. These findings suggest a need for more studies to examine differential effects of universal preventive programs by diverse subgroups to better inform practices that enhance equity in youth outcomes.

Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (T-SEL): The Experiences of Teenagers Participating in Volunteer Club Activities in the Community.

Beginning with social inequities in terms of access to quality, inclusive education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, especially rural teenagers who leave school early, the Holtis Association, with the support of the UNICEF Representative in Romania, developed a number of interventions intended to facilitate the transition from lower to higher secondary education of students from vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. One of the interventions was the establishment of teenagers' clubs for volunteer activities, leadership development, and participation in the community to encourage social and emotional learning. (1) Background: This study aims to investigate the extent to which participation in the Holtis club projects contributed to the development of transformative social and emotional learning (T-SEL), as observed from the perspective of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) competencies among adolescents. (2) Methods: The study was qualitative and used focus groups for data collection. Out of the 65 active clubs, 18 were selected, and their representatives participated in the focus groups. (3) Results: Participating in the club activities, which were organized in the school, with the aim of organizing activities outside the school space stimulated and developed T-SEL competencies among adolescents. (4) Conclusions: The data, which were collected through the voices of teenagers, underlined the personal transformation from the perspective of the CASEL model competencies of SEL, and the study privileged their perspectives.

Preditores da satisfação com a vida entre universitários do Estado da Bahia, Brasil / Predictores de la satisfacción con la vida entre estudiantes universitarios del estado de Bahía, Brasil / Predictors of life satisfaction among university students in the state of Bahia, Brazil

A satisfação com a vida tem sido descrita como um constructo psicológico que se refere à avaliação global que o indivíduo faz em relação a sua vida. O presente estudo objetiva investigar se fatores individuais (gênero e idade), socioeconômico (classe social), de autoper-cepção (nível de estresse, estado de saúde e qualida-de do sono) e de percepção de qualidade de vida na universidade (oportunidade e motivação para aprendi-zagem, ambiente social para aprendizagem, ambiente físico e equipamentos para aprendizagem, autoava-liação de conhecimento e relevância da universidade) predizem a satisfação com a vida entre universitários de instituições públicas do Estado da Bahia, Brasil. Participaram do estudo 1.506 universitários dos cursos de graduação presenciais das Universidades Federais (ufs) localizados no Estado da Bahia, sendo 537 ho-mens (35.7 %), 968 mulheres (64.3 %) e um que não identificou seu gênero, com idades entre 18 a 24 anos (63.5 %) e sem companheiro(a) (86.0 %). Os resultados indicaram que o modelo que melhor predisse a satis-fação com a vida foi aquele que incluiu classe social, nível de estresse, estado de saúde, qualidade do sono, grau de motivação, ânimo para assistir as aulas do seu curso, relacionamento com os demais colegas do seu curso e oportunidade de participação em atividades de ensino, extensão e pesquisa. Juntas, essas variáveis foram responsáveis por explicar aproximadamente 27.5 % da variância em satisfação com a vida, o que é uma razoável capacidade explicativa, se considerarmos que satisfação com a vida é um constructo psicológico, complexo e multideterminado.

La satisfacción con la vida ha sido descrita como un constructo psicológico que hace referencia a la valoración global que el individuo tiene en relación a su vida. El presente estudio tiene como objetivo investigar si factores individuales (género y edad), socioeconó-micos (clase social), autopercepción (nivel de estrés, estado de salud y calidad del sueño) y calidad de vida percibida en la universidad (oportunidad y motivación para el aprendizaje, ambiente social para el aprendizaje, ambiente físico y equipamiento para el aprendizaje, autoevaluación de conocimientos y pertinencia de la universidad) predicen la satisfacción con la vida en estudiantes universitarios de instituciones públicas del Estado de Bahía, Brasil. Participaron en el estudio 1.506 estudiantes universitarios de cursos de graduación presenciales en Universidades Federales (uf) ubicadas en el Estado de Bahía, 537 hombres (35.7 %), 968 mujeres (64.3 %) y uno que no identificó su género, edad entre 18 y 24 años (63.5 %) y sin pareja (86.0 %). Los resultados indicaron que el modelo que mejor predijo la satisfacción con la vida fue el que incluyó la clase social, el nivel de estrés, el estado de salud, la calidad del sueño, el grado de motivación, la disposición a asistir a las clases de su curso, la relación con los demás compañeros y la oportunidad de participar en actividades de docencia, extensión e investigación. En conjunto, estas variables fueron responsables de explicar aproximada-mente el 27.5 % de la varianza en la satisfacción con la vida, lo cual es una capacidad explicativa razonable, si consideramos que la satisfacción con la vida es un constructo psicológico, complejo y multideterminado.

Life satisfaction has been described as a psychological construct referring to the overall assessment the individ-ual makes regarding their life. The present study aims to investigate whether individual factors (gender and age), socioeconomic factors (social class), self-perception (level of stress, health status and quality of sleep), and perceived quaility of life at the university (opportu-nity and motivation for learning, social environment for learning, physical environment and equipment for learning, self-assessment of knowledge and relevance of the university) predict life satisfaction among university students from public institutions in the state of Bahia. In this study, 1.506 university students from undergraduate courses of the federal universities (ufs) participated in the study: 537 men (35.7 %), 969 women (64.3 %), and one student that did not identify their gender, with ages between 18 to 24 years (63.5 %) and without a partner (86.0 %). The results indicated that the model that best predicted life satisfaction was the one including social class, stress level, health status, quality of sleep, degree of motivation, willingness to attend classes in their degree, relationship with other colleagues in their degree, and opportunity to participate in teaching, ex-tension and research activities. Together these variables explained approximately 27.5 % of the variance in life satisfaction, which is a reasonable explanatory capacity if we consider that life satisfaction is a psychological, complex, and multidetermined construct.

Urban living labs as innovation infrastructure for local urban intervention acceleration and student social learning: the impacts on community wellbeing in Heerlen.

Cities are championing urban experiments in order to address societal challenges and increased urban complexity. In fact, and following fellow researchers, urban experiments are used as a method in a broader trend in public policy to align urban planning with citizen needs by viewing cities as platforms for societal transformation that require, and should draw on, active involvement of residents. In this study, we demonstrate the impacts of placemaking and Urban Living Labs not only for healthy environments but also in facilitating transdisciplinary learning. Therefore, we elaborate on the Aurora transformation process in the neighborhood GMS in Heerlen-North as being one of the 16 Dutch neighborhoods that need extra attention to its socio-urban challenges due to the historical context and consequent local development. Hence, providing two main results for ULLs as infrastructure for innovation for community wellbeing. First, as an alternative spatial planning approach for urban contexts with extreme social-urban conditions that draw on the multitude of local values to generate and accelerate urban transformations going beyond the traditional impacts of urban transformations including public health equity, health outcomes, and addressing social-economic determinants of community wellbeing. Second, as an infrastructure for education innovation encompassing and operationalising social learning theory. Subsequently, it addresses societal issues in these neighborhoods, such as loneliness, social exclusion, or democratic decision-making more appropriately and enhances student, and urban stakeholder, learning through transdisciplinary collaboration among those involved and by connecting education, research methods and questions, and real-life socio-urban challenges. We conclude the article by emphasizing its novelty, providing a discussion, and enumerating implications for theory, practice, policy, and research.

Can bifocal stance theory explain children's selectivity in active information transmission?

To shed light on the key premise of the bifocal stance theory (BST) that social learners flexibly take instrumental and ritual stances, we focus on developmental origins of child-led information transmission, or teaching, as a core social learning strategy. We highlight children's emerging selectivity in information transmission influenced by epistemic and social factors and call for systematic investigation of proposed stance-taking.

Atención primaria social en Colombia: una mirada desde una experiencia exitosa / Social primary care in Colombia: A look from a successful experience

Resumen Introducción: La estrategia de Atención Primaria Social ha sido valorada por la Organización Panamericana de la Salud como una experiencia exitosa. Objetivo: Analizar la experiencia de Atención Primaria Social en el departamento de Caldas en el marco de un proceso de sistematización. Materiales y métodos: Estudio de sistematización de experiencias, las unidades de análisis y de trabajo fueron documentos municipales y departamentales, información del Observatorio Social de Caldas y relatos de diferentes actores. Técnicas: 71 entrevistas a profundidad a informantes claves, 27 grupos focales, 11 diarios de campo y revisión documental. La información fue recolectada en 6 fases y luego analizada en el software ATLAS.ti 8.0. Resultados: La estrategia tuvo un recorrido histórico bajo lineamientos nacionales e internacionales desde los años 80 hasta la actualidad, fue modificada en 2013 al articular actores y sectores público-privados para convertirla en "Atención Primaria Social". El modelo operativo se cimienta en la transectorialidad y educación interdisciplinar, bienestar y salud familiar, y participación social y comunitaria, cuyo eje central son los actores, familias y comunidades. Se destacan actividades como caracterización familiar, intervenciones a familias priorizadas y unidades de análisis para apoyo, monitoreo y seguimiento. Conclusiones: Han participado diferentes actores en la comprensión de la mirada y el abordaje de la salud desde lo "social", un actor relevante ha sido la comunidad, acompañada de sus líderes y la academia. La voluntad política del gobierno nacional, departamental y municipal es relevante para el éxito de la estrategia. Los indicadores en salud han sido impactados por el avance en la implementación de la estrategia de Atención Primaria Social.

Abstract Introduction: The Social Primary Care strategy has been evaluated by the Pan American Health Organization as a successful experience. Objective: To analyze the experience of Primary Social Care in the department of Caldas within the framework of a systematization process. Methods: Systematization study of experiences, the units of analysis and work were municipal and departmental documents, information from the Social Observatory of Caldas and accounts of different actors. Techniques: 71 in-depth interviews with key informants, 27 focus groups, 11 field diaries and documentary review, the information was collected in 6 phases and then analyzed in ATLAS. ti 8.0 software. Results: The strategy had a historical trajectory under national and international guidelines from the 1980s to the present, it was modified in 2013 by articulating actors and public-private sectors to turn it into "Social Primary Care". The operational model is based on trans-sectoriality and interdisciplinary education, family wellbeing and health, and social and community participation, whose central axis are the actors, families, and communities. Activities include family characterization, interventions for prioritized families and units of analysis for support, monitoring and follow-up. Conclusions: Different actors have participated in the understanding of the "social" approach to health, a relevant actor has been the community accompanied by its leaders and academia. The political will of the national, departmental and municipal governments is relevant for the success of the strategy. Health indicators have been impacted by the progress in the implementation of the Social Primary Health Care strategy.

Social learning in swarm robotics.

In this paper, we present an implementation of social learning for swarm robotics. We consider social learning as a distributed online reinforcement learning method applied to a collective of robots where sensing, acting and coordination are performed on a local basis. While some issues are specific to artificial systems, such as the general objective of learning efficient (and ideally, optimal) behavioural strategies to fulfill a task defined by a supervisor, some other issues are shared with social learning in natural systems. We discuss some of these issues, paving the way towards cumulative cultural evolution in robot swarms, which could enable complex social organization necessary to achieve challenging robotic tasks. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.

Promoting gender equity in very young adolescents: targeting a window of opportunity for social emotional learning and identity development.

BACKGROUND: The transition from childhood to adolescence is a uniquely sensitive period for social and emotional learning in the trajectory of human development. This transition is characterized by rapid physical growth, sexual maturation, cognitive and behavioral changes and dynamic changes in social relationships. This pivotal transition provides a window of opportunity for social emotional learning that can shape early adolescent identity formation and gender norms, beliefs and behaviors. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of a social emotional learning intervention for very young adolescents (VYAs) to improve social emotional mindsets and skills. METHODS: Discover Learning is a social emotional learning intervention designed for VYAs (10-11 years of age) to support development of social emotional mindsets and skills from four primary schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The intervention delivered three different packages of learning experiences to three arms of the study. 528 VYAs were randomized to each of the three study arms (A-Content learning, B-Content learning and reflection, and C-Content learning, reflection and experiential practice). A quantitative survey was administered to all participants before and after the intervention to capture changes in social emotional mindsets and skills. A discrete choice experiment measured changes in gender norms, beliefs and behaviors. RESULTS: 528 VYAs were included in the analysis. Participants in all three arms of the study demonstrated significant improvements in social emotional mindsets and skills outcomes (generosity, curiosity, growth mindset, persistence, purpose and teamwork). However, Group C (who received experiential social learning opportunities in small, mixed-gender groups and a parent and community learning components demonstrated larger treatment effects on key outcomes in comparison to Groups A and B. Results indicate Group C participants had greater change in gender equity outcomes (OR = 1.69, p = <0.001) compared to Group A (OR = 1.30, p = <0.001) and Group B (OR = 1.23, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: These findings provide evidence that social emotional learning interventions targeting VYAs can improve social emotional mindsets and skills and gender equity outcomes. The findings indicate the importance of experiential learning activities in mixed-gender groups during the unique developmental window of early adolescence. The study also provides support for the inclusion of parental/caregiver and community engagement in programs designed for VYAs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Retrospectively registered on July 7th, 2020. NCT0445807.

A preference to learn from successful rather than common behaviours in human social dilemmas.

Human cooperation is often claimed to be special and requiring explanations based on gene-culture coevolution favouring a desire to copy common social behaviours. If this is true, then individuals should be motivated to both observe and copy common social behaviours. Previous economic experiments, using the public goods game, have suggested individuals' desire to sacrifice for the common good and to copy common social behaviours. However, previous experiments have often not shown examples of success. Here we test, on 489 participants, whether individuals are more motivated to learn about, and more likely to copy, either common or successful behaviours. Using the same social dilemma and standard instructions, we find that individuals were primarily motivated to learn from successful rather than common behaviours. Consequently, social learning disfavoured costly cooperation, even when individuals could observe a stable, pro-social level of cooperation. Our results call into question explanations for human cooperation based on cultural evolution and/or a desire to conform with common social behaviours. Instead, our results indicate that participants were motivated by personal gain, but initially confused, despite receiving standard instructions. When individuals could learn from success, they learned to cooperate less, suggesting that human cooperation is maybe not so special after all.

Trait/Financial Information of Potential Male Mate Eliminates Mate-Choice Copying by Women: Trade-Off Between Social Information and Personal Information in Mate Selection.

Mate-choice copying occurs when people rely on the mate choices of others (social information) to inform their own mate decisions. The present study investigated women's strategic trade-off between such social learning and using the personal information of a potential mate. We conducted two experiments to investigate how mate-choice copying was affected by the personal information (e.g., trait/financial information, negative/positive valence of this information, and attractiveness) of a potential male mate in short-/long-term mate selection. The results demonstrated that when women had no trait/financial information other than photos of potential mates, they showed mate-choice copying, but when women obtained personality trait or financial situation information (no matter negative or positive) of a potential mate, their mate-choice copying disappeared; this effect was only observed for low-attractiveness and long-term potential partners. These results demonstrated human social learning strategies in mate selection through a trade-off between social information and personal information.

The role of culturally responsive social and emotional learning in supporting refugee inclusion and belonging: A thematic analysis of service provider perspectives.

Young refugees resettled to the U.S. from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region face significant acculturative stressors, including language barriers, unfamiliar norms and practices, new institutional environments, and discrimination. While schools may ease newcomer adjustment and inclusion, they also risk exacerbating acculturative stress and social exclusion. This study seeks to understand the opportunities and challenges that schoolwide social and emotional learning (SEL) efforts may present for supporting refugee incorporation, belonging, and wellbeing. We completed semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 40 educators and other service providers in Austin, Texas, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Detroit Metropolitan Area, Michigan as part of the SALaMA project. We conducted a thematic analysis with transcripts from these interviews guided by the framework of culturally responsive pedagogy. The findings revealed that students and providers struggled with acculturative stressors and structural barriers to meaningful engagement. Schoolwide SEL also provided several mechanisms through which schools could facilitate newcomer adjustment and belonging, which included promoting adult SEL competencies that center equity and inclusion, cultivating more meaningfully inclusive school climates, and engaging families through school liaisons from the newcomer community. We discuss the implications of these findings for systemwide efforts to deliver culturally responsive SEL, emphasize the importance of distinguishing between cultural and structural sources of inequality, and consider how these lessons extend across sectors and disciplinary traditions.

Not by transmission alone: the role of invention in cultural evolution.

Innovation-the combination of invention and social learning-can empower species to invade new niches via cultural adaptation. Social learning has typically been regarded as the fundamental driver for the emergence of traditions and thus culture. Consequently, invention has been relatively understudied outside the human lineage-despite being the source of new traditions. This neglect leaves basic questions unanswered: what factors promote the creation of new ideas and practices? What affects their spread or loss? We critically review the existing literature, focusing on four levels of investigation: traits (what sorts of behaviours are easiest to invent?), individuals (what factors make some individuals more likely to be inventors?), ecological contexts (what aspects of the environment make invention or transmission more likely?), and populations (what features of relationships and societies promote the rise and spread of new inventions?). We aim to inspire new research by highlighting theoretical and empirical gaps in the study of innovation, focusing primarily on inventions in non-humans. Understanding the role of invention and innovation in the history of life requires a well-developed theoretical framework (which embraces cognitive processes) and a taxonomically broad, cross-species dataset that explicitly investigates inventions and their transmission. We outline such an agenda here. This article is part of the theme issue 'Foundations of cultural evolution'.

Global and local mobility as a barometer for COVID-19 dynamics.

The spreading of infectious diseases including COVID-19 depends on human interactions. In an environment where behavioral patterns and physical contacts are constantly evolving according to new governmental regulations, measuring these interactions is a major challenge. Mobility has emerged as an indicator for human activity and, implicitly, for human interactions. Here, we study the coupling between mobility and COVID-19 dynamics and show that variations in global air traffic and local driving mobility can be used to stratify different disease phases. For ten European countries, our study shows a maximal correlation between driving mobility and disease dynamics with a time lag of [Formula: see text] days. Our findings suggest that trends in local mobility allow us to forecast the outbreak dynamics of COVID-19 for a window of two weeks and adjust local control strategies in real time.

The Examination of Diffusion Effects on Modern Contraceptive Use in Nigeria.

This study uses data gathered for an evaluation of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded initiative designed to increase modern contraceptive use in select urban areas of Nigeria. When the initiative was conceived, the hope was that any positive momentum in the cities would diffuse to surrounding areas. Using a variety of statistical methods, we study three aspects of diffusion and their effects on modern contraceptive use: spread through mass communications, social learning, and social influence. Using a dynamic causal model, we find strong evidence of social multiplier effects through social learning. The results for social influence and spread through mass communications are promising, but we are unable to identify definitive causal impacts.

Cost-Effectiveness of a School-Based Social and Emotional Learning Intervention: Evidence from a Cluster-Randomised Controlled Trial of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies Curriculum.

BACKGROUND: School-based social and emotional learning interventions can improve wellbeing and educational attainment in childhood. However, there is no evidence on their effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) or on their cost effectiveness. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to evaluate the cost effectiveness of the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. METHODS: A prospective economic evaluation was conducted alongside a cluster-randomised controlled trial of the PATHS curriculum implemented in the Greater Manchester area of England. In total, 23 schools (n = 2676 children) were randomised to receive PATHS, and 22 schools (n = 2542 children) were randomised to continue with usual practice. A UK health service perspective and a 2-year time horizon were used. HRQoL data were collected prospectively from all children in the trial via the Child Health Utility Nine-Dimension questionnaire. Micro-costing was undertaken to estimate the intervention costs. Missing data were imputed using multiple imputation. RESULTS: The mean incremental cost of the PATHS curriculum compared with usual practice was £32.01 per child, and mean incremental quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were positive (0.0019; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0009-0.0029). Assuming a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20,000 per QALY, the expected incremental net benefit of introducing the PATHS curriculum was £5.56 per child (95% CI - 14.68 to 25.81), and the probability of cost effectiveness was 84%. However, this probability fell to 0% when intervention costs included teacher's salary costs. CONCLUSION: The PATHS curriculum has the potential to be cost effective at standard UK willingness-to-pay thresholds. However, the sensitivity of the cost-effectiveness estimates to key assumptions means decision makers should seek further information before allocating scarce public resources. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN85087674.