Evaluation of a tobacco and alcohol use prevention program for Hispanic migrant adolescents: Promoting the protective factor of parent-child communication

Background. Interventions designed to prevent tobacco and alcohol use targe ting high-risk adolescents are limited. In addition, few studies have attem pted to improve parent-child communication skills as a way of improving and maintaining healthy youth decision-making. Methods. A total of 660 Hispanic migrant families participated in a randomi zed pre-post control group study that was utilized to determine the impact of the intervention on parent-child communication. Both treatment and atten tion-control groups of youth were exposed to an eight session culturally se nsitive program presented by bilingual/bicultural college students. Parents jointly attended three of the eight sessions and participated in helping t heir child complete homework assignments supporting the content of each ses sion. The content of the treatment intervention included (1) information ab out tobacco and alcohol effects, (2) social skills training (i.e., refusal skills), and (3) the specific development of parent-child communication ski lls to support healthy youth decisions. Results. Significant intervention by household size interactions for both p arent and youth perceptions of communication were found indicating that the treatment was effective in increasing communication in families with fewer children. Based on the effect size and the previously established relation ship between communication and susceptibility to tobacco and alcohol use, i t was determined that the intervention effect could be translated into a fu ture 5 to 10% decrease in susceptibility for these smaller families. Conclusions, A culturally sensitive family-based intervention for migrant H ispanic youth was found to be effective in increasing perceived parent-chil d communication in families with fewer children. It is expected that increa ses in this important protective factor will lead to later observed decreas es in tobacco and alcohol use. (C) 2000 American Health Foundation and Acad emic Press.