The purpose of this competing continuation proposal is to extend a program of research that began in September, 1991 and has included (a) a controlled pilot phase efficacy study of the Preparing for the Drug Free Years (PDFY) intervention, (b) several consumer-oriented studies of factors influencing participation in family skills interventions like PDFY, and (c) three waves of data collection in a clinical trial study of rural families with sixth graders. Promising results to date underscore the importance of continuing the study as the experimental sample enters the highest risk years for initiation of substance use.
The first aim of this proposal is to collect clinical trial follow-up data, in order to examine long-term outcomes of the PDFY intervention and to evaluate factors influencing long-term project involvement among rural families.
The second aim i s to model processes influencing PDFY outcomes, including models of mechanisms of intervention-related change in parent and child outcomes proximally and distally targeted by PDFY, as well as etiological models derived from the social development framework for the PDFY intervention.
These specific aims will be achieved through second and third year follow-up data collection, along with analyses of these and prior waves of data from the ongoing clinical trial. This trial began with the random assignment of 33 rural schools having a sixth grade and meeting the criteria for the federal school lunch program. Multi-informant, multi-method measurement procedures at pretesting involved 667 families from these schools; posttesting and a one year follow-up assessment have been completed. Pilot phase and preliminary trial phase analyses have shown (a) significant, positive effects of the PDFY intervention on effective parenting and child competencies, (b) support for models of family participation factors, and (c) support for models of intervention-related mechanisms of change in family processes. Comparisons of intervention-control differences on parenting and child substance use outcomes will be conducted at the second and third year data collection points. Planned modeling of etiological and intervention change-related mechanisms will include multisample structural equation and latent growth curve models of interrelationships among targeted parenting and child outcomes.
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