Study shows promising long-term results for children ...( -study program; a program for custodial...),Health

-study program; a program for custodial mothers, where the mother attended an 11-week parenting skills class which focused on listening and communication skills, consistent discipline and other key parenting skills; and a combined program for mothers and children, which included the parenting class and a coping skills class for the children.

Six months after the study the researchers found the children whose mothers attended the class had fewer behavioral problems than those in the self-study program.

For the newly published JAMA study, the researchers contacted the same families (90 percent of the original families participated in the follow-up) after six years to assess how the adolescents were adjusting. Six years after participating in the programs, the majority of the adolescents were still functioning well. The classes were most beneficial for those adolescents who had high levels of behavior problems in childhood and who were most likely to develop more serious problems later on.

The adolescents in the combined program were 36 percent less likely to have diagnosed mental disorder and reported fewer sexual partners than those who had been in the self-study program. The adolescents whose mothers had attended the class had fewer mental health problems and fewer instances of drug, marijuana and alcohol use than teens that had been in the self-study program. The results for the mother program and the combined mother and child program were not significantly different.

The researchers are now planning a larger project in collaboration with Family Courts in Phoenix, Ariz., to examine if the class can be effectively delivered to families through community agencies. If successful, this project will raise public policy issues of how society can deliver such effective prevention programs in the community.

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Contact: Lynette Summerill
lsummer@asu.edu
480-965-4823
Arizona State University
15-Oct-2002

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