Examining the Long-Term Effects Familias: Preparando La Nueva Generación, a Culturally-Specific Mexican American Parenting Intervention

The purpose of this study  is to test the long-term results of the efficacy trial of a culturally-specific parenting intervention called Familias: Preparando la Nueva Generación (FPNG), designed to increase the effects of keepin’it REAL (kiR), an efficacious school-based drug abuse prevention intervention targeting middle school students. Randomized at the school-level, parents and youth in nine schools were assigned into one of three conditions: (1) control condition, (2) youth-only condition -receiving only kiR, and (3) parent + youth condition,-receiving FPNG and kiR. Youth and parents completed a wave 1 pre-test prior to implementation, a wave 2 short-term post-test  after the last lesson, and a wave 3 long-term post-test 12 months later.    Using a path analysis in Mplus on adolescents whose parents also participated (N=462), both direct and indirect effects of participating in FPNG were examined.  Findings indicate that participation in FPNG and kiR had a significant direct effect in lowering adolescents’ amount of substance use  for alcohol and cigarettes at wave 3 in comparison receiving only kiR.  These effects, however, were completely mediated by anti-substance use norms – youth whose parent also received FPNG had significantly stronger anti-substance use norms, which in turn resulted in significantly lowered amounts of alcohol and cigarettes used.  These results are consistent with the Ecodevelopmental Theory and provide further evidence to the theoretical premise that strengthening parent-child communication of norms can have a positive effect in preventing adolescent substance use. In addition, these results support the assumption that involving parents in prevention efforts has a major effect in strengthen the efficacy of youth-only classroom based intervention.  Because FPNG was designed with Latino parents and for Latino parents, FPNG is emerging as a curriculum that can positively impact familial and parent-child influences that characterize Latino youth and families and reduce substance use among Latino adolescents.