The Depression and Substance Use Prevention Project
This project evaluates the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of
the Depression and Substance Use Prevention (DSUP) program. DSUP is
a parent-training preventive intervention adapted from two existing,
evidence-based programs: one that targets adolescent depression and
another that targets adolescent substance use. The program is designed
for families of depressed parents with children between the ages of
12-15 years. The overall objective of the program is to improve parenting
and parent-child interactions, as well as to prevent depression and
substance use, and the co-occurrence of these problems, among teens.
This project creates the DSUP intervention and provides a preliminary
test of the efficacy of the program among families randomly assigned
to experimental and control conditions.
Start Date: 2008
PI: W. Alex Mason
Funding: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Disparities in Drug Use Among Emerging Adults
This project is a 6- and 8-year follow up of the Family
Connections project. In the original study, a universal family-based
intervention to prevent drug use and other problem behaviors, Parents
Who Care, was evaluated in two formats: self-administered with
telephone support and parent and teen group meetings. Families of eighth
graders were randomly assigned to one of these interventions or the
comparison group which did not receive either intervention. Results
suggest the programs worked differently for African American and European
American families. This long-term follow up focuses on ethnic differences
in program efficacy, risk and protective factors for drug use, and possible
biological mediators of the impact of stress on drug use.
Start Date: 2008
PI: Kevin Haggerty
Funding: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Longitudinal Study of Exposure to
Family Violence
This is a continuance of a longitudinal study examining
the effects of family violence on children as they transition through
adolescence and early adulthood. The study seeks to mark transitions
and life successes in the lives of individuals exposed to violence at
a young age. Funding adds an adult assessment to three earlier waves
of data collected over a 15-year period. The project is funded by the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and
the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR), which
will continue through January, 2011.
Start Date: 2007
PI: Todd I. Herrenkohl
Funding: National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development; Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research
Longitudinal Study of Exposure
to Family Violence Publications
Project Family
A Partnership with Iowa State University Institute for Social and
Behavioral Research
SDRG is teaming with Iowa State University to implement
and evaluate the "Preparing for the Drug Free Years" (PDFY) parent training
program as a strategy to increase family protective factors while reducing
risk factors for drug and alcohol abuse in rural youth. This research
is directed toward the evolution, refinement and diffusion of interventions
to increase the proportions of competent caregivers to youth through
university-school-community partnerships. It consists of a series of
interrelated investigations addressing four goals across several phases
of intervention research:
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To conduct needs assessments for preventive interventions through
surveys of prevalence of protective and risk factors for youth problems.
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To examine factors influencing participation in preventive interventions.
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To evaluate the efficacy of universal family interventions using
findings to clarify intervention-related change mechanisms.
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To develop strategies for university-school-community collaboration
in the diffusion of empirically-supported family interventions.
The focus of SDRG's collaborative analyses with Iowa State University
is on testing the efficacy of Preparing for the Drug Free Years (PDFY).
Results are available from the earlier experimental study that includes
follow-up assessments at three-and-one-half years post intervention.
The sample consists of 424 sixth-grade students and their parents who
were randomly assigned to a PDFY intervention or control condition.
Data were collected from both parents and students at pre-test, post-test,
and 1-, 2- and 3.5-year follow-ups. The experiment involved extensive
data collection with in-depth written questionnaires and videotapes
of families involved in two structured interaction tasks. Among parents
assigned to the PDFY curriculum, intervention-targeted parenting behaviors
showed significant improvement for both mothers and fathers, consistent
with PDFY objectives. More recent findings on long-term follow-up indicate
that improvements in parent behaviors were sustained over time, and
that there were subsequent reductions in children's smoking and drinking
behaviors. Latent growth models showed that PDFY significantly reduced
the growth of alcohol use and improved parent norms regarding adolescent
alcohol use over time (Park, Kosterman, Hawkins, et al., 2000).
Overview of the PDFY Intervention:
Preparing for the Drug (Free) Years is a five-session, multimedia skills
training program for parents of children ages 8 to 14. Each weekly parenting
session lasts two hours. Sessions are conducted by trained workshop
leaders from the community. The curriculum consists of a Workshop Leaders
Guide, videotapes for each session and a Family Activity Book. The Workshop
Leader's Guide provides session objectives, materials needed, and a
well-scripted overview of the curriculum material. In addition, the
guide provides detailed information on how to conduct the parenting
workshops and provides a sample recruitment brochure for distribution
to parents. The companion videotapes are used with the curriculum to
model a variety of the skills and provide a succinct summary of the
curriculum material. The Family Activity Book is designed to summarize
the curriculum material and provide extension activities for the family.
It also contains pull-out pages for families to post in their home.
After each session, families receive an assignment to complete a family
meeting related to the session topic during the course of the week In
each session parents have an opportunity to practice holding a family
meeting. The five sessions are:
Session 1, "Getting Started: How to Prevent Drug Abuse in Your Family,"
provides an overview of the program and describes risk factors for substance
abuse including family management problems, family drug use and positive
attitudes toward use, alienation and rebelliousness, friends who use
drugs, and early first use of drugs or alcohol. Participants learn that
family bonding is a protective factor for preventing adolescent health
and behavior problems and that, as parents, they can strengthen bonds
by providing children opportunities for involvement in the family, skills
to be involved successfully, and reinforcement or rewards for prosocial
family involvement. In this session, parents practice the steps for
conducting a family meeting to plan a fun family activity as one mechanism
for increasing family bonding.
Session 2, "Setting Clear Family Expectations on Drugs and Alcohol,"
focuses on reducing the risk factors of poor family management, favorable
attitudes toward substance use, and early first use of drugs or alcohol.
Parents are trained to clarify their own expectations about alcohol
and other drug use. They are taught how to develop family guidelines
and monitoring strategies, as well as clear consequences for following
or breaking the stated family rules on alcohol and other drug use. Parents
learn to enhance protective factors by involving their children in creating
a family policy about alcohol and other drugs in a family meeting.
Session 3, "Avoiding Trouble," focuses on the risk factors of friends
who use drugs, antisocial behavior in early adolescence, and early first
use of alcohol or other drugs. Children attend this session with their
parents. Using the five steps of "Refusal Skills," both children and
parents learn skills to resist peer influence to use drugs or alcohol
or to engage in antisocial behavior. The skill is taught using cognitive
behavioral techniques of introduction, discussion, role play and feedback.
Well-developed skills in peer resistance increase protection against
problem behavior.
Session 4, "Managing Family Conflict," is aimed at reducing the risks
related to family conflict, poor family management, and alienation and
rebelliousness. Parents learn skills to express and control anger without
damaging family bonds.
In Session 5, "Strengthening Family Bonds," parents explore ways to
strengthen protection by expanding opportunities for involvement in
the family. Parents learn skills to express positive feelings and love
to teenagers, and they are provided with a process for developing a
parenting support network to continue beyond the Preparing for the Drug
(Free) Years sessions.
Start Date:
1991
PI: J. David Hawkins
Co-PI: Richard Spoth
Project Manager: Kevin Haggerty
Funding: National Institute on Drug Abuse
Project Family Publications
