Parent Prevention Communication Profiles and Adolescent Substance Use: A Latent Profile Analysis and Growth Curve Model

ABSTRACT

This current study identifies distinct parent prevention communication profiles and examines whether youth with different parental communication profiles have varying substance use trajectories over time. Eleven schools in two rural school districts in the Midwestern United States were selected, and 784 students were surveyed at three time points from the beginning of 7th grade to the end of 8th grade. A series of latent profile analyses were performed to identify discrete profiles/subgroups of substance-specific prevention communication (SSPC). The results revealed a 4-profile model of SSPC: Active-Open, Passive-Open, Active-Silent, and Passive-Silent. A growth curve model revealed different rates of lifetime substance use depending on the youth’s SSPC profile. These findings have implications for parenting interventions and tailoring messages for parents to fit specific SSPC profiles.     

Effects of the 5th and 7th grade enhanced versions of the keepin' it REAL substance use prevention curriculum

This study assessed the outcomes of adapting the culturally-grounded, middle school, substance-use prevention intervention, keepin ' it REAL (kiR), to target elementary school students and to address acculturation. At the beginning of 5th grade, 29 schools were randomly assigned to conditions obtained by crossing grade of implementation (5th, 7th, 5th + 7th, and control/comparison) by curriculum version [kiR-Plus vs. kiR-Acculturation Enhanced (AE)]. Students (n = 1984) completed 6 assessments through the end of 8th grade. The kiR curricula generally appear no more effective than the comparison schools' programming. Students receiving either version of the kiR intervention in only the 5th grade report greater increases in substance use than did control students. Receiving the kiR-AE version twice (both 5th and 7th grades) has benefits over receiving it once.     

Mexican/Mexican American Adolescents and keepin' it REAL: An Evidence-Based Substance Use Prevention Program

A randomized trial tested the efficacy of three curriculum versions teaching drug resistance strategies, one modeled on Mexican American culture; another modeled on European American and African American culture; and a multicultural version. Self-report data at baseline and 14 months post-intervention were obtained from 3, 402 Mexican heritage students in 35 Arizona middle schools, including 11 control sites. Tests for intervention effects used simultaneous regression models, multiple imputation of missing data, and adjustments for random effects. Compared with controls, students in the Latino version reported less overall substance use and marijuana use, stronger intentions to refuse substances, greater confidence they could do so, and lower estimates of substance-using peers. Students in the multicultural version reported less alcohol, marijuana, and overall substance use. Although program effects were confined to the Latino and multicultural versions, tests of their relative efficacy compared with the non-Latino version found no significant differences. Implications for evidence-based practice and prevention program designs are discussed, including the role of school social workers in culturally grounded prevention.     

Racial differences in infant mortality rates: United States, 1969

Using multiple regression analyses, we measured the effects of demographic, health, and socioeconomic variables on race-specific neonatal and postneonatal infant mortality rates. The racial difference in rates in 1969 is due to (1) effects of mean differences in black and white population characteristics, (2) differences in the impact of independent variables, and (3) differences from other causes. Higher black than white infant mortality is the result of unfavorable black means on birthweight, age of mothers at birth, education, and marital stability. Black mortality is also higher because mothers' age at birth, marital stability, and education have more favorable impact on mortality for whites than blacks.