The goal of this project is to conduct a pilot evaluation of a parent-child mediation program for at-risk youth. It is investigating whether families who receive parent-child mediation show greater improvement in family functioning, as well as adolescent substance use, academic performance, and delinquency, over a 6-week and 12-week period compared to a wait-list control sample.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
PREVENTION
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
111
Family mediation is a method of resolving conflicts between parents and teens. During the mediation session, the parent and teen each meet one-on-one with a trained volunteer mediator, who is a neutral person who listens to each party's concerns without taking sides. Then the parent and teen come together and meet with this mediator to work on resolving conflicts they are having. Families participate in up to 3 mediation sessions.
Centinela Youth Services
Hawthorne, California, United States
Positive Family Relations
6-item Positive Family Relations measure adapted from the Cohesion subscale of Moos \& Moos Family Environment Scale (Metzler et al., 1998; Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 600-619). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("not at all" to "very much") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 6-week
Family Conflict
5-item measure from the Family, Friends and Self (FFS) assessment scales (Simpson \& McBride, 1992; Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14, 327-340). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 6-week
Family Communication
10-item measure assessing open vs. problem communication (McCubbin, Thompson \& McCubbin, 1996; Family assessment: Resiliency, coping and adaptation - Inventories for research and practice. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 6-week
Parent Support
4-item measure (Wills et al., 2004; Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 122-134). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 6-week
Positive Family Relations
6-item Positive Family Relations measure adapted from the Cohesion subscale of Moos \& Moos Family Environment Scale (Metzler et al., 1998; Journal of Family Psychology, 12, 600-619). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("not at all" to "very much") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 12-week
Family Conflict
5-item measure from the Family, Friends and Self (FFS) assessment scales (Simpson \& McBride, 1992; Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 14, 327-340). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
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Time frame: 12-week
Family Communication
10-item measure assessing open vs. problem communication (McCubbin, Thompson \& McCubbin, 1996; Family assessment: Resiliency, coping and adaptation - Inventories for research and practice. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 12-week
Parent Support
4-item measure (Wills et al., 2004; Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 122-134). Items are rated on a 5-point scale ("never" to "almost always") and averaged to create a scale score.
Time frame: 12-week
Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use
Number of times used in lifetime (range: "0 times" to "7 or more times") and number of days used in past month (range: "0 days" to "20-30-days") for each of the following substances: cigarettes; alcohol; marijuana; inhalants; any other illegal drug or pill to get high; over-the-counter medicines or OTCs to get high; and prescription medicines to get high. Additional items ask about quantity of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use on days used, as well as intentions to use each of these substances in next 6 months (4-point scale, ranging from "definitely yes" to "definitely no").
Time frame: 6-week
Academic Performance
Items ask about typical grades in past month (range: "mostly A's" to "mostly F's"), school attachment (4-item measure from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), highest level of school the youth plans to finish (range: "I may not finish high school" to "I plan to go to graduate or professional school"), number of days skipped school in past month, and history of suspension from school.
Time frame: 6-week
Delinquency
13-item measure that includes items from Project ALERT and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Items are rated on a 7-point scale ("0 days" to "20-30 days").
Time frame: 6-weeks
Lifetime and Past Month Substance Use
Number of times used in lifetime (range: "0 times" to "7 or more times") and number of days used in past month (range: "0 days" to "20-30-days") for each of the following substances: cigarettes; alcohol; marijuana; inhalants; any other illegal drug or pill to get high; over-the-counter medicines or OTCs to get high; and prescription medicines to get high. Additional items ask about quantity of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use on days used, as well as intentions to use each of these substances in next 6 months (4-point scale, ranging from "definitely yes" to "definitely no").
Time frame: 12-week
Academic Performance
Items ask about typical grades in past month (range: "mostly A's" to "mostly F's"), school attachment (4-item measure from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), highest level of school the youth plans to finish (range: "I may not finish high school" to "I plan to go to graduate or professional school"), number of days skipped school in past month, and history of suspension from school.
Time frame: 12-week
Delinquency
13-item measure that includes items from Project ALERT and National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Items are rated on a 7-point scale ("0 days" to "20-30 days").
Time frame: 12-weeks