title: The Linking Lives health education program: a randomized clinical trial of a parent-based tobacco use prevention program for african american and latino youths.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We evaluated the effectiveness of a parent-based add-on component to a school-based intervention to prevent cigarette smoking among African American and Latino middle school youths.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mother-adolescent dyads (n=1386) were randomly assigned to 2 groups: (1) a school-based smoking-prevention intervention or (2) the same intervention with a parent-based add-on component called Raising Smoke-Free Kids. Mothers in the experimental condition received the parent add-on component. Mothers in the control condition received information on selecting a high school. All adolescents received a version of Project Towards No Tobacco Use (TNT). The primary outcome was a reduction in adolescent cigarette smoking. Follow-up data were obtained from 1096 mother-adolescent dyads at 15 months postintervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At follow-up, the odds of smoking cigarettes were reduced by 42% for adolescents in the parent add-on condition versus the TNT-only condition. Mothers in the parent add-on condition were more likely than were mothers in the TNT-only condition to set rules about risk-sensitive social activities and to be perceived as trustworthy by their child. Group differences also were found in the frequency and quality of mother-adolescent communication.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Including parent add-on components in school-based smoking prevention programs can reduce smoking behavior on the part of inner-city middle school youths.
authors.affiliation: Columbia University School of Social Work, 1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027, USA. rg650@columbia.edu
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Guilamo-Ramos
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jaccard
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dittus
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Alida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bouris
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Banspach
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009519:New York City; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012907:Smoking / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D000074606:Smoking Prevention; D016896:Treatment Outcome