The applicant is requesting funding for five years through the Mentored Scientist Development Award (K01) mechanism to enhance his theoretical, methodological, and statistical analysis skills to enable his efforts to prevent or reduce self-destructive behaviors among at-risk youth. The applicant's strong academic training in social policy research and practice experience in working with youth along with his familiarity in conducting program evaluations serve as the foundation on which the career development activities outlined in this application builds to facilitate the achievement of his career goal to become an independent researcher in conducting prevention intervention studies. The following objectives will be achieved: 1) Enhance my understanding of behavioral science and adolescent theories relevant for designing individual, group, and family-based interventions to reduce self-destructive behaviors and promoting positive health behaviors among at-risk racial and ethnic minority youth; 2) Advance my research skills in the design, measurement, and statistical analyses relevant for conducting intervention prevention research on reducing multiple forms of self-destructive behaviors among racial and ethnic urban minority youth; 3) Increase my methodological skills to better design, implement, and evaluate scientifically rigorous and culturally appropriate prevention interventions designed to reduce self-destructive behavior among at-risk African American youth; 4) Enhance my skills and ability to conduct intervention by piloting and testing a study to determine the feasibility of using a family based intervention focusing on African American fathers to prevent three forms of self-destructive behavior (suicidal HIV/AIDS sexual, and substance abusing behavior) among at- risk urban African American adolescent males; and 5) Carry forth my research agenda to conduct a randomized trial study by preparing a competitive R01 proposal employing a randomized control study to test the effectiveness of a family-based intervention targeting African American fathers to help reduce self-destructive behavior among their at-risk adolescent male at-risk children.
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