Buffering Effects of a Family-Based Intervention for African American Emerging Adults.

This study focused on the buffering effects of Adults in the Making (AIM), a family-centered preventive intervention, on the link between life stress and increases in risk behaviors among 347 rural, southern African Americans as they left high school. Of the families, 174 were assigned to the prevention condition and 173 to a control condition. Emerging adults reported risk behaviors at pretest, posttest (7 months after pretest), and long-term follow-up (10 months after posttest).

Long-term effects of the strong African American families program on youths' alcohol use.

Objective: This report extends earlier accounts by addressing the effects of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program across 65 months. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Rural African American youths randomly assigned to participate in SAAF would demonstrate lower rates of alcohol use than would control youths more than 5 years later, and (b) SAAF's effects on deterring the onset of alcohol use in early adolescence would carry forward to mediate the program's long-term effects.

Method: African American youths in rural Georgia (mean age at pretest = 10.

Parenting moderates a genetic vulnerability factor in longitudinal increases in youths' substance use.

The authors used a longitudinal, prospective design to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a genetic vulnerability factor, a variable nucleotide repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of 5HTT (5-HTTLPR), and increases in youths' substance use. The primary study hypothesis predicted that involved-supportive parenting would attenuate the link between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and longitudinal increases in substance use. African American youths residing in rural Georgia (N = 253, mean age = 11.

Psychological functioning, support for self-management, and glycemic control among rural African American adults with diabetes mellitus type 2.

Objective: To test a contextual-ecological model of factors relevant for glycemic control in an understudied and vulnerable population of persons with diabetes mellitus Type 2.

Design: Rural African American adults (40-65 years old, n = 200) with Type 2 diabetes and 200 adult support persons whom the adults with diabetes nominated were interviewed in their homes. Adults with diabetes and support persons reported their own psychological functioning, which included depressive symptoms, self-esteem levels, and optimism levels as well as the quality of their relationship with one another.

Effects of family risk factors on dosage and efficacy of a family-centered preventive intervention for rural African Americans.

This study was designed to test hypotheses about family risk factors and their links to dosage and efficacy of a family-centered preventive intervention. Participants were 172 families with an 11 year-old child randomly assigned to the intervention condition in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF). Two family risk factors, ratio of adults to children in the household and youth unconventionality, were negatively related to dosage, defined as number of intervention sessions attended.

The Strong African American Families Program: a cluster-randomized prevention trial of long-term effects and a mediational model.

The Strong African American Families Program, a universal preventive intervention to deter alcohol use among rural African American adolescents, was evaluated in a cluster-randomized prevention trial. This 7-week family skills training program is based on a contextual model in which intervention effects on youth protective factors lead to changes in alcohol use. African American 11-year-olds and their primary caregivers from 9 rural communities (N = 332 families) were randomly selected for study participation.

The strong African American families program: prevention of youths' high-risk behavior and a test of a model of change.

In this study, the efficacy of the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF) was tested. The trial, which included 332 families, indicated that families who participated in SAAF experienced increases over time in regulated, communicative parenting; increases in targeted parenting behaviors, according to youths' reports; and low rates of high-risk behavior initiation among youths. Changes in regulated, communicative parenting mediated the intervention's impact on youths' recognition of changes in parenting, which in turn was linked to changes in youths' high-risk behavior.

Longitudinal links among parenting, self-presentations to peers, and the development of externalizing and internalizing symptoms in African American siblings.

A longitudinal model that linked involved-supportive parenting and siblings' ability-camouflaging self-presentations to peers with the development of externalizing and internalizing symptoms was tested with 152 pairs of first- and second-born African American siblings (mean ages 12.7 years and 10.2 years at the first wave of data collection).

The Strong African American Families Program: translating research into prevention programming.

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who took part in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American mothers and their 11-year-olds, with control families. SAAF is based on a contextual model positing that regulated, communicative parenting causes changes in factors protecting youths from early alcohol use and sexual activity. Parenting variables included involvement-vigilance, racial socialization, communication about sex, and clear expectations for alcohol use.

Protective longitudinal paths linking child competence to behavioral problems among African American siblings.

A 4-wave longitudinal design was used to examine protective links from child competence to behavioral problems in first- (M=10.97 years) and second- (M=8.27 years) born rural African American children.

Longitudinal direct and indirect pathways linking older sibling competence to the development of younger sibling competence.

A 4-wave longitudinal model tested direct and indirect links between older sibling (OS; M = 11.7 years) and younger sibling (YS; M = 9.2 years) competence in 152 rural African American families.

Longitudinal pathways to competence and psychological adjustment among African American children living in rural single-parent households.

A three-wave model linking maternal functioning to child competence and psychological adjustment was tested with 150 African American families living in the rural South. The children were 11 years old at Wave 1. Structural equation modeling indicated that maternal education and per capita income were linked with maternal psychological functioning (self-esteem, optimism, depression) at Wave 1, which forecast mothers' competence-promoting parenting 1 year later at Wave 2.