Families Preparing the New Generation: Efficacy Trial

A Supplemental Parent Education Intervention to Enhance the Efficacy of keepin’ it REAL

Principal Investigators: Felipe G. Castro and Flavio F. Marsiglia

Funding: National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, center grant award P20 MD002316 NIMHD (2007-2012)

This study examines the effects of enhancing the quality of the parent-child relationship as a general approach for improving family function and youth skill building to reduce risks of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use among Latino middle school youth.  The aims of this study are to: (1) Adapt and test a supplemental parent education intervention, named Families Preparing the New Generation (Familias Preparando la Nueva Generación), or FPNG; (2) Examine the effects of the intervention on family functioning, as it enhances the effects of the school-based keepin’ it REAL program on youth outcomes (drug use norms, attitudes and behaviors); and (3) To study the moderator effects of acculturation and other cultural variables on the quality of the parent-child relationship, on family functioning and on youth outcomes.  The new parenting intervention consists of eight sessions, delivered over a period of 7 to 9 weeks to run concurrently with the youth intervention, keepin’ it REAL. The study employs a three group pretest-posttest and follow-up design. The sample includes 7th grade students and one of their parents, with schools block randomized to three groups: (1) keepin’ it REAL with the supplemental FPNG parent education component, (2) keepin’ it REAL without FPNG, and (3) no-intervention for youth or parents. Each of the three groups includes 600 youth and 150 parents for a total sample of 1800 youth and 450 parents.

Ayón, C., Marsiglia, F. F., & Parsai, M. B. (2010). Latino family mental health: Exploring the role of discrimination and familismo. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 742-756. doi: 10.1002/jcop.20392.  Read full article PMCID: PMC2947026

Hedberg, E. C., & Ayers, S. L. (2015). The power of a paired t-test with a covariate. Social Science Research, 50, 277-291. doi: 10.1016/j.ssresearch.2014.12.004  PMCID:PMC4297322

Marsiglia, F.F., Ayers, S., Baldwin, A. & Booth, J. (2016). Changing Latino adolescents’ substance use norms and behaviors:  The long term effects of synchronized youth and parent prevention interventions.Prevention Science, 17, 1-12. doi: 10.1007/s11121-015-0574-7 ‡ NIHMSID:NIH702737

Marsiglia, F. F & Booth, J. (2015). Cultural adaptation of interventions in real practice settings. Research on Social Work Practice, 25, 423-432. doi: 10.1177/1049731514535989.  NIHMSID:NIHMS617407

Marsiglia, F. F., Booth, J., Baldwin, A. & Ayers, S. L. (in press). Acculturation and life satisfaction among immigrant Mexican adults. Advances in Social Work.

Marsiglia, F. F., Nagoshi, J. L., Parsai, M. , Booth, J. M., & Castro, F .G. (2014). The parent-child acculturation gap, parental monitoring, and substance use in Mexican heritage adolescents in Mexican neighborhoods of the Southwest US. Journal of Community Psychology, 42(5), 530-543. doi: 10.1002/cop21635 ‡  Read online PMCID: PMC4235226

Marsiglia, F. F., Nagoshi, J. L., Parsai, M., & Castro, F. G. (2014). The effects of parental acculturation and parenting practices on the substance use of Mexican heritage adolescents from southwestern Mexican neighborhoods. Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 13, 288-311. doi: 10.1080/15332640.2014.905215 ‡Read online PMCID: PMC4206522

Marsiglia, F. F., Williams, L., Ayers, S. L., & Booth, J. M. (2014). Familias: Preparando la Nueva Generación: A randomized control trial testing the effects on positive parenting practices. Research on Social Work Practice, 24(3), 310-320. doi: 10.1177/1049731513498828   Read online PMCID:PMC4262836

Nagoshi, J., Marsiglia, F. F., Parsai, M. B., & Castro, F. G. (2011). The moderating effects of ethnic identification on the relationship between parental monitoring and substance use in Mexican heritage adolescents in the Southwest US. Journal of Community Psychology, 39, 520-533. doi: 10.1002/jcop.20449.  Read full article PMCID: PMC3161251  

Parsai, M. B., Castro, F. G., Marsiglia, F. F., Harthun, M. L., & Valdez, H. (2011). Using CBPR to create a culturally grounded intervention for parents & youth to prevent risky behaviors. Prevention Science, 12, 34-47. doi:10.1007/s11121-010-0188-z  Read full article PMCID: PMC3057060

Williams, L. R., Ayers, S., Baldwin, A., & Marisliga, F. F. (2016). Delaying youth substance-use initiation: A cluster randomized controlled trial of complementary youth and parenting interventions. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 7(1), 177-200.

Williams, L. R., Ayers, S. L., Garvey, M., Marsiglia, F. F., & Castro, F. G. (2012). The efficacy of a culturally-based parenting intervention: Strengthening open communication between Mexican-heritage parents and their adolescent children. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 3, 4, 296-307. doi:10.5243/jsswr.2012.18ng  NIHMSID:NIHMS473661

Williams, L. R., Marsiglia, F. F., Baldwin, A., & Ayers, S. L. (2014). Unintended effects of an intervention supporting Mexican-heritage youth: Decreased parent heavy drinking. Research on Social Work Practice, 25,181-189. doi: 10.1177/ 1049731514524030. PMCID:PMC4351785