Preparing for the drug free years: session-specific effects of a universal parent-training intervention with rural families

Like their urban counterparts, adolescents from rural areas are at risk for health and behavior problems, including alcohol and other drug use. This study tested the effects on parenting practices of specific sessions of a parent-training intervention, Preparing for the Drug Free Years, designed to prevent adolescent substance abuse and other problem behaviors. Two hundred and nine rural families were randomly assigned to an intervention or a wait-list control condition. Analyses of covariance comparing adjusted posttest scores revealed that parents in the intervention condition reported significant improvements in parenting behaviors targeted by specific intervention sessions when compared with controls. Effects were most pronounced among mothers. No significant effects were found for nontargeted parenting behaviors, and targeted behaviors were most improved among parents attending relevant program sessions. These results strengthen the internal validity of the study and increase the plausibility that reported improvements were due to the intervention.     

Team factors that predict to sustainability indicators for community-based prevention teams

Because they often set out with a guarantee of only short-term funding, many community partnerships will face a threat to their sustainability almost as soon as the first money runs out. Research into the factors that enable some coalitions and partnerships to meet the challenge when others fail is limited. This study begins to fill this gap in our understanding by examining influences on the process of sustainability planning in the context of a collaborative partnership focused on youth development. We report on a longitudinal examination of the quality of planning and attitudes underpinning the sustainability of PROSPER community prevention teams whose members implement evidence-based programs designed to support positive youth development and reduce early substance use and other problem behaviors. The current research concentrates on a particular dimension of partnership effectiveness to establish whether perceptions about team functioning in play at 6 and 18 months predict the quality of sustainability planning at 36 and 48 months. How well teams functioned in the early stages was found to be strongly related to the quality of their later preparations for sustainability. Recruitment and integration of new team members, and the encouragement they subsequently received were also found to be key factors. The results strengthen the argument for providing technical assistance to meet the needs of those who promote prevention partnerships, and they provide longitudinal empirical data to support the hypotheses of other researchers who have similarly found a correlation between effective sustainability and early planning and support.     

Translating family-focused prevention science into public health impact

Underage drinking is a pervasive problem in the United States, with serious consequences for youth, families, communities, and society as a whole. Family-focused preventive interventions for children and adolescents have shown potential for reducing underage drinking and other problem behaviors. Research findings indicate that clear advances have been made, in terms of both the number of evidence-based interventions available, and in the quality of the methods used to evaluate them. To fully reap the benefits of such preventive interventions and achieve public health impact, the findings of family-focused preventive intervention science must be translated into real-world, community practices. This type of translation can be enhanced through four sets of translational impact factors-effectiveness of interventions, extensiveness of their population coverage, efficiency of interventions, and engagement of eligible populations, with sustained quality intervention implementation. Findings from studies conducted by researchers at the Partnerships in Prevention Science Institute and other empirical work highlight the importance of these factors. A model for community- university partnerships has been developed that potentially can facilitate the dissemination and public health impact of universal interventions to prevent underage drinking and other problem behaviors. This model fits well within a comprehensive strategic framework for promoting effective prevention.     

Towards flexible organizations: A multidimensional design

The author considers one way by which the readiness, willingness, and ability of organizations to change themselves can be increased. Specifically, he considers how organizations can be designed to be more flexible and, therefore, more capable of being changed and changing themselves. Flexibility does not guarantee adaptability but it is essential for it.     

Influence of a Family‐Focused Substance Use Preventive Intervention on Growth in Adolescent Depressive Symptoms

Preparing for the Drug Free Years (PDFY) is a preventive intervention that targets parenting behaviors, family interaction patterns, and adolescent substance use, factors that have been shown to predict depression among teenagers. Effects of PDFY on trajectories of self‐reported adolescent depressive symptoms from 6th through 12th grade were examined. Latent growth curve modeling was used to analyze data from 429 rural adolescents from schools assigned randomly to an intervention or a control condition. PDFY reduced the rate of increase in depressive symptoms during adolescence. Mediation of the intervention effect on depressive symptoms through reduced polysubstance use was tested; the indirect effect was only marginally significant. Findings have implications for understanding the relationship between adolescent depressive symptoms and substance use, and for preventing these outcomes.     

Unique Influence of Mothers and Fathers on Their Children's Antisocial Behavior

The social development model ( Catalano & Hawkins, 1996 ) was adapted to examine the unique influence of mothers and fathers on their children's antisocial behavior. Analyses examined 325 families with sixth‐grade children. Structural equation modeling was used to assess unique influences of constructs specific to mothers or fathers. Multiple‐group comparisons were conducted to identify differences in the relationships between constructs for daughters versus sons. Results suggested that, although the relationships were often similar for both parents and for both daughters and sons, mothers and fathers uniquely influenced their child's antisocial behavior depending on the child's gender. Overall, cross‐gender influence appeared to be particularly important for fathers’ control of their daughters’ antisocial behavior. Implications for the prevention of antisocial behavior are discussed.     

Comprehensive behavioral medicine in community mental health. A needs assessment that needs assessment.

It is suggested that the massive costs incurred nationally in health care are in large part a fitting concern of Community Mental Health (CMH). There is considerable data available to suggest that as much as half of the variance in common health disorders is associated with behavioral factors. There is a rapidly growing movement to provide interventions geared toward these behavioral components in health disorders, but much of this has occurred outside of the traditional mental health environment. There are arguments to suggest that CMH should be more involved in the development of comprehensive behavioral medicine services, both in terms of the expertise and resources that it can bring to bear upon these problems, and its potential to reach segments of the population which are otherwise likely to be underserved, if served at all. Implications for CMH planning and financing are discussed, drawing upon a selective literature review and clinical illustrations.     

Marketing segmentation research—An application to bank services

The research reported here analyses data relating to bank services obtained by a stratified random sampling technique using stepwise linear regression and canonical correlation for the purpose of illustrating the application of segmentation principles to marketing research.     

The Role of Assertiveness and Decision Making in Early Adolescent Substance Initiation: Mediating Processes

This study examined the mediating processes linking assertiveness and decision making to early adolescent substance initiation, along with the moderating effect of gender on those processes. Models specifying negative expectancies and refusal intentions as mediators of individual rights assertiveness and decision‐making effects on substance initiation were evaluated across 18 months on a nontreatment cohort of young adolescents participating in a prevention trial (average age 12.3 years at baseline; N=357). Results indicated that individual rights assertiveness and decision making had indirect effects on substance initiation through effects on negative outcome expectancies and refusal intentions. Gender differences were found in both the average level and the pattern of relationships among the variables. For girls, refusal intentions were negatively associated with later substance initiation. For boys, early levels of substance initiation were negatively associated with later levels of negative expectancies and refusal intentions. Implications for prevention programming are discussed.