title: A randomized, controlled trial of the family check-up model in public secondary schools: Examining links between parent engagement and substance use progressions from early adolescence to adulthood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Substance use in adulthood compromises work, relationships, and health. Prevention strategies in early adolescence are designed to reduce substance use and progressions to problematic use by adulthood. This report examines the long-term effects of offering Family Check-up (FCU) at multiple time points in secondary education on the progression of substance use from age 11 to 23 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants (N = 998; 472 females) were randomly assigned individuals to intervention or control in Grade 6 and offered a multilevel intervention that included a classroom-based intervention (universal), the FCU (selected), and tailored family management treatment (indicated). Among intervention families, 23% engaged in the selected and indicated levels during middle school.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intention to treat analyses revealed that randomization to the FCU was associated with reduced growth in marijuana use (p < .05), but not alcohol and tobacco use. We also examined whether engagement in the voluntary FCU services moderated the effect of the intervention on substance use progressions using complier average causal effect (CACE) modeling, and found that engagement in the FCU services predicted reductions in alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use by age 23. In comparing engagers with nonengagers: 70% versus 95% showed signs of alcohol abuse or dependence, 28% versus 61% showed signs of tobacco dependence, and 59% versus 84% showed signs of marijuana abuse or dependence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family interventions that are embedded within public school systems can reach high-risk students and families and prevent progressions from exploration to problematic substance use through early adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors.affiliation: Département de Psychologie, Université du Québec à Montréal.
authors.forename: Marie-Hélène
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Véronneau
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Arizona State University.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Dishion
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Sciences, Case Western Reserve University.
authors.forename: Arin M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Connell
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Family Center, University of Oregon.
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kavanagh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000517:prevention & control; D002648:Child; D018450:Disease Progression; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D012574:Schools; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult