Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2010 Apr;78(2):281-5.
doi: 10.1037/a0018552.

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

Gene H Brody  1 , Yi-Fu Chen, Steven M Kogan, Velma McBride Murry, Anita C Brown
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

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

Gene H Brody et al. J Consult Clin Psychol. 2010 Apr.

Abstract

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 = 10.8 years) were assigned randomly to the SAAF group (n = 369) or to a control group (n = 298). Past-month alcohol use was assessed at pretest and at 9, 18, 29, 53, and 65 months after pretest.

Results: SAAF participants increased their alcohol use at a slower rate than did adolescents in the control condition across the follow-up assessments. At the 65-month assessment, SAAF participants reported having drunk alcohol half as often as did youths in the control group. Consistent with the second hypothesis, SAAF's effects on deterring initiation carried forward to account for its effects on alcohol use across time.

Conclusions: Training in protective parenting processes and self-regulatory skills during preadolescence may contribute to a self-sustaining trajectory of disinterest in and avoidance of alcohol use during adolescence when peers begin to model and sanction it.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consort diagram.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Results of the structural equation modeling analysis for the mediation hypothesis. SAAF: Strong African American Families program. * p < .05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Aiken LS, Stein JA, Bentler PM. Structured equation analyses of clinical subpopulation differences and comparative treatment outcomes: Characterizing the daily lives of drug addicts. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1994;62:488–499. doi: 10.1037/0022-006X.62.3.488. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brody GH, Murry VM, Gerrard M, Gibbons FX, McNair LD, Brown AC, Chen Y-F. The Strong African American Families program: Prevention of youths’ high-risk behavior and a test of a model of change. Journal of Family Psychology. 2006;20:1–11. doi: 10.1037/0893-3200.20.1.1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brody GH, Murry VM, Gerrard M, Gibbons FX, Molgaard V, McNair LD, Neubaum-Carlan E. The Strong African American Families program: Translating research into prevention programming. Child Development. 2004;75:900–917. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00713.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Brody GH, Murry VM, Kogan SM, Gerrard M, Gibbons FX, Molgaard V, Wills TA. The Strong African American Families program: A cluster-randomized prevention trial of long-term effects and a mediational model. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2006;74:356–366. doi: 10.1037/0022-006x.74.2.356. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Collins WA. Parent-child relationships in the transition to adolescence: Continuity and change in interaction, affect, and cognition. In: Montemayor R, Adams G, Gullotta TP, editors. Advances in adolescent development: Vol. 2. From childhood to adolescence: A transitional period? Beverly Hills, CA: Sage; 1990. pp. 85–106.

Publication types