The Strong African American Families program: longitudinal pathways to sexual risk reduction.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the mechanisms by which intervention-induced increases in adaptive parenting were associated with a reduction in sexual risk behavior among rural African American adolescents across a 29-month period.


METHODS
African American families (N = 284) with 11-year-old children in nine rural Georgian counties participated in the 7-week Strong African American Families (SAAF) project. Counties were randomly assigned to intervention or control conditions. The program was evaluated via pretest, posttest, and long-term follow-up interview data collected in the families' homes. The current paper tests a hypothetical model of program efficacy, positing that intervention-induced changes in parenting behaviors would enhance in youth self-pride, which in turn would forecast changes in sexual behaviors measured 29 months after pretest.


RESULTS
Compared with controls, parents who participated in SAAF reported increased adaptive universal and racially specific parenting. Furthermore, intervention-induced changes in these parenting behaviors were associated indirectly with sexual risk behavior through adolescent self-pride, peer orientation, and sexual intent.


CONCLUSIONS
Culturally competent programs, developed through empirical and theoretical research within affected communities, can foster adaptive universal and racially specific parenting, which can have a long-term effect on adolescent sexual risk behavior. Effective strategies for designing and implementing culturally competent programs are discussed.
Murry
Velma McBride
VM
Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.
Berkel
Cady
C
Brody
Gene H
GH
Gerrard
Meg
M
Gibbons
Meg
M
Gibbons
Frederick X
FX
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005845:Georgia; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012424:Rural Population; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000517:prevention & control*