FAMILY INTERVENTIONS AND ADOLESCENT RESILIENCY - THE SOUTHWEST TEXAS STATE HIGH-RISK YOUTH PROGRAM

The emergence of social ecology as an orienting perspective in prevent ion has reinforced attention to the family as a critical influence on adolescent risk and protection. The Southwest Texas High-Risk Youth Pr ogram (SWTHRY) addressed the neglect of family as a prevention focus b y providing in-home sessions for high-risk families that sought to str engthen family cohesion and adaptability, and thereby promote adolesce nt resiliency. Based on pre- and post-program administration of carefu lly constructed measures, the evaluation demonstrates increased family cohesion and strengthened adolescent family bonding among participant s. However, participants reported less increase in family adaptability , and adolescent family members showed no statistically significant ga in over pre-program scores in dimensions of resiliency other than fami ly bonding, nor in family interaction, family supervision, or ATOD att itudes. Family bonding, the area in which there was significant change in adolescents, was not highly correlated with ATOD use. The study su pports the need for comprehensive programming to strengthen adolescent resiliency, and provides further evidence that prevention interventio ns targeted on affective purposes (e.g., self-esteem, family cohesion) will have limited effects. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.