Rural African American adolescents: An evidence-based family intervention trial

The Rural African American Families Health (RAAFH) project, a randomized prevention trial (N=502). The families who are participating in RAAFH live in small towns and communities in rural Georgia. Recent studies show rural African American youth use substances and engage in high-risk sexual behavior at rates equal to or exceeding those in densely populated inner cities (Kogan et al., 2006; Milhausen et al., 2003) and experience disproportionate consequences from adolescent behavior problems. Despite this need, no developmentally appropriate, culturally sensitive prevention programs have been developed to deter adolescent behavior problems among the several million African American adolescents who live in the rural South. The purpose of RAAFH was to evaluate the efficacy of the Strong African American Families-Teen (SAAF-T) program, a five-session, family skills training program. SAAF-T is an adaptation of the evidenced-based and efficacious SAAF program for preadolescents; it was designed to address the changing risk and protective factors for adolescent risk behaviors that occur as youth enter high school. The program addresses a cluster of adolescent behavior problems including multiple sexual partners, conduct problems, risky sex, and substance use. Efficacy hypotheses are tested with latent growth models which specify intervention induced change over time. Longitudinal data support the efficacy of SAAF-T in reducing behavior problems. The use of an attention control design also rules out the potential of non-specific factors, such as simply aggregating families in a structured context, as a rival hypothesis for efficacy findings.