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The Role of Culture of Origin on the Effectiveness of a Parents-Involved Intervention to Prevent Substance Use Among Latino Middle School Youth: Results of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the combined effectiveness of a parenting intervention, Families Preparing the New Generation (FPNG), and a youth curriculum, keepin’ it REAL (kiR), on substance use prevention for middle school students in a large urban metro area of the southwest USA. The study aimed to generate usable knowledge on what works in adolescent substance use prevention and how it works best—a combined parent and youth programming or parent-only programming. A total of 532 adolescents in the 7th grade from 19 participating middle schools were randomly assigned into three intervention conditions: parent-youth (PY), parent-only (PO), and comparison (C). This article focuses on the comparison between PY and PO in order to determine which intervention strategy works best to reduce adolescent substance use including alcohol, inhalant, cigarette, and marijuana uses. A generalized estimating equation (GEE) model examined the longitudinal data. The results for alcohol use show that PO yielded better results than PY and that PY outperformed C after 20 months. Further, PO showed a decreasing trajectory in any substance use over time since the implementation of the intervention. The effect sizes based on Cohen’s h indicate small effects in any substance use and alcohol use for PO condition and smaller effects for the PY condition. These findings have implications for the design of future culturally specific parenting and youth prevention interventions with Latino families.

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Funding

This research was supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD/NIH), award P20 MD002316 (F. Marsiglia, P.I.). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIMHD or the NIH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Center for Applied Health Research (GCAHR), Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA

    Flavio F. Marsiglia, Stephanie L. Ayers, SeungYong Han & Arianna Weide

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  1. Flavio F. Marsiglia
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  2. Stephanie L. Ayers
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  3. SeungYong Han
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  4. Arianna Weide
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Correspondence to SeungYong Han.

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Ethical Approval

All study procedures involving human participants were approved by the Arizona State University’s Institutional Review Board and in accordance with standards for ethical research practice, including the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Participants were informed of their rights and parental informed consent coupled with youth assent was obtained prior to any data collection.

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Marsiglia, F.F., Ayers, S.L., Han, S. et al. The Role of Culture of Origin on the Effectiveness of a Parents-Involved Intervention to Prevent Substance Use Among Latino Middle School Youth: Results of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. Prev Sci 20, 643–654 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-018-0968-4

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