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Pathways to Preventing Substance Use Among Youth in Foster Care

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Abstract

Substance use problems are highly prevalent among youth in foster care. Such problems in adolescence have long-lasting implications for subsequent adjustment throughout adulthood and even across generations. Although several programs have demonstrated positive results in reducing substance use in at-risk youth, few studies have systemically examined how such programs work for foster youth and whether they are effective for both genders. This study examined the efficacy of KEEP SAFE, a family-based and skill-focused program designed to prevent substance use and other related health risking behaviors among youth in foster care. We hypothesized that improving the caregiver–youth relationship would lead to later reductions in youths’ involvement with deviant peers, which subsequently would lead to less substance use, and that this mechanism would work comparably for both genders. A sample of 259 youth (154 girls, ages 11–17 years) in foster care and their caregivers participated in a randomized controlled trial and was followed for 18 months post-baseline. Results indicated that the intervention significantly reduced substance use in foster youth at 18 months post-baseline and that the intervention influenced substance use through two processes: youths’ improved quality of relationships with caregivers at 6 months post-baseline and fewer associations with deviant peers at 12 months post-baseline. This suggests that these two processes may be fruitful immediate targets in substance use prevention programs for foster youth. We also found little gender differences in direct and mediating effects of the intervention, suggesting KEEP SAFE may be effective for both genders in foster care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oregon Social Learning Center, 10 Shelton McMurphey Blvd, Eugene, OR, 97401, USA

    Hyoun K. Kim & Rohanna Buchanan

  2. Department of Child and Family Studies, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 03722, Republic of Korea

    Hyoun K. Kim

  3. Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, CA, USA

    Joseph M. Price

  4. Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Joseph M. Price

Authors
  1. Hyoun K. Kim
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  2. Rohanna Buchanan
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Correspondence to Hyoun K. Kim.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was collected at each wave of assessment from participants old enough to complete, with assents being collected for younger participants. All procedures were approved by the Oregon Social Learning Center Institutional Review Board.

Funding

Support for this research was provided by the following grants: R01DA020172, R01DA032634, and P50DA035763 from the Division of Epidemiology, Services, and Prevention Research, NIDA US PHS. The authors would like to thank Patricia Chamberlain, developer; Courtenay Padgett, Project Coordinator; Norma Talamantes, lead interventionist; JP Davis, Supervisor; and the San Diego foster parents.

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Kim, H.K., Buchanan, R. & Price, J.M. Pathways to Preventing Substance Use Among Youth in Foster Care. Prev Sci 18, 567–576 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-017-0800-6

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