Efficacy of a Family-Based Intervention on Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies in Positive Parenting and Substance Use Among Hispanic Youth

Purpose: The research literature shows that discrepancies in positive parenting between parent and adolescent represents maladaptive parent-adolescent relationships, which are in turn positively linked to later substance use in Hispanic youth. However, questions remain about for whom interventions work and by what mechanisms they work to prevent discrepancies in positive parenting. The current study investigated the moderating and mediating roles of positive parenting discrepancy trajectories on the association between condition effect (i.e., a family-based intervention vs. prevention as usual condition) and substance use among Hispanic youth. Methods: Eigth grade Hispanic adolescents (mean age = 13.86) and their primary caregivers (mean age = 42.32) were randomly assigned to two conditions: Familias Unidas (n = 376) or prevention as usual (n = 370). Participants were assessed at baseline and at 6, 18, and 30 months postbaseline. Using structural equation modeling, moderated mediation analyses were conducted to test whether the relationship between condition and past 90-day substance use at 30 months was mediated by discrepancy trajectories in positive parenting and whether direct and indirect relationships between condition and substance use were moderated by positive parenting discrepancies at baseline. Results: The results showed that, relative to prevention as usual, Familias Unidas reduced positive parenting discrepancies across time, when parent reports were higher than adolescent reports at baseline; this in turn, predicted substance use at 30 months postbaseline. Conclusions: The findings provide important evidence supporting the need to collect multiple informant reports on positive parenting and examining the directionality of these reports among Hispanic families.