Efficacy of a Culturally Based Parenting Intervention: Strengthening Open Communication Between Mexican-Heritage Parents and Adolescent Children

Adolescent substance use is a serious public health concern associated with a host of negative health outcomes (Hanson, Medina, Padula, Tapert, & Brown, 2011) and costs to society (Chassin, Hussong, & Beltran, 2009; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2007). National data point to significant health disparities among Latino youth. Among eighth-grade adolescents, Latino youth evidence higher rates of nearly all illicit drug use (amphetamines being the major exception) than either their European American or African American peers (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2011). To date, best practices with prevention interventions that target tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use have been less successful in reaching high-risk and minority adolescents (Skara & Sussman, 2003; Tobler et al., 2000), demonstrating a need for interventions that effectively address the role of conventional risk and protective factors within the context of a particular community's cultural values (such as the Latino community). A culturally relevant approach might improve community and family engagement and more effectively address the community's needs. The parenting intervention Familias: Preparando la Nueva Generacion (FPNG) was developed to complement keepin' it REAL (kiR), a classroom-based substance use prevention program for Mexican-heritage youth. The present study provides an initial short-term evaluation of the efficacy of this parenting intervention, which aimed, in general, to strengthen family functioning and, specifically, to enhance family communication.