NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A program for helping rural African American pre-teens avoid using alcohol not only cuts their likelihood of drinking, it also sharply reduces their chances of developing behavior problems, especially in those at highest risk, a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health indicates.

Dr. Gene H. Brody of the University of Georgia in Athens and his colleague Velma McBride Murry developed the Strong African-American Families (SAAF) program by tapping research that has shown that rural African American parents can help their children avoid problems by disciplining consistently, building positive relationships with their children, instilling pride in a child's ethnicity, and helping the child to manage discrimination. SAAF also targets ways children can protect themselves, for example helping them to do well academically, plan for the future, and strengthen their self esteem.

Prior research found that young people who completed the SAAF program were less likely to start using alcohol or to "escalate" their alcohol use in the 24 months after the program ended. Brody and his team designed the current study to test the hypothesis that SAAF would also reduce conduct problems, such as delinquent and disruptive behavior.

They enrolled 667 11-year-old children and their main caregivers from nine rural counties in Georgia, 369 of whom were assigned to the SAAF program. The control group received leaflets on adolescent development, stress management and exercise in the mail.

The program consists of seven weekly hour-long sessions in which the parents and children meet separately and engage in games and activities, after which they meet jointly to practice skills.

In the two years after the program ended, the young people who had completed the SAAF program were less likely to have conduct problems, and the effect was strongest among the young people who were most at risk.

For example, the young people who completed the SAAF program were 54 percent less likely to display conduct problems in the 29 months after the program began; kids who had more ties with "deviance-prone peers" were 62 percent less likely to have conduct problems if they participated in the SAAF group; and young people with low self control in the SAAF group reduced their conduct problem risk by 74 percent.

"A lot of programs show benefits in close proximity to the intervention, but many fewer -- and none with African American populations -- show benefits one, two or more years after the intervention," Brody said in a university-issued statement. "Previous research has shown benefits of SAAF up to six years later."

SOURCE: Journal of Adolescent Health, November 2008

• More News on African-American Health
• More News on Alcohol and Youth
• More News on Child Behavior Disorders

Related MedlinePlus Pages:

• African-American Health
• Alcohol and Youth
• Child Behavior Disorders