AFRICAN-AMERICAN HEAD-START PARENT INVOLVEMENT IN DRUG PREVENTION

This study explored African American parents' perceptions of their inv olvement with their Head Start children in an alcohol, tobacco, and ot her drug (ATOD) prevention program. Based on the Health Belief Model ( HBM), factors related to African American parent involvement with thei r children were explored via in-depth, open-ended interviews with 10 A frican American parents. Barriers to parent involvement included struc tural and system factors, attitudes and norms, addiction, and stress. Benefits of involvement included learning, parent role modeling, and p arent-child communication. Encouragement from teachers and children pr ovided cues to action. Perceived seriousness, perceived control of chi ldren's future ATOD use, and parent ATOD modeling contributed to perce ived threat.