Project

A Randomized Trial of Letting Go and Staying Connected, an Interactive Parenting Intervention to Reduce Risky Behaviors Among Students

Project Description

SDRG is working with Washington State University on a five-year grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to examine how parents can best support their children while in college. The study will assess the effects of a handbook WSU will give to parents, Letting Go and Staying Connected with your WSU Student, which is designed to reduce alcohol, marijuana, and stimulant use among entering freshman. SDRG is working with WSU on the implementation, data collection, and analysis for the study. Starting in spring 2017, the project will follow a group of incoming students and their parents through two years of college. Three groups will be studied: families who don’t receive the handbook, families who do receive the handbook, and families who receive the handbook plus text message and email reminders, to determine what students and their families learn from handbook.

Dr. Laura Hill, Professor and Chair of the Department of Human Development at WSU is the Principal Investigator; Dr. Kevin P. Haggerty, along with other SDRG staff, will be working with WSU on the study.