Preventing Drug Use and Risk Behaviors in Adolescent Girls
Overview
- Phase
- Not Applicable
- Intervention
- Not specified
- Conditions
- Juvenile Delinquency Unspecified
- Sponsor
- University of Oregon
- Enrollment
- 122
- Locations
- 1
- Primary Endpoint
- Delinquency measured by official arrest records and standardized questionnaires
- Status
- Completed
- Last Updated
- 2 years ago
Overview
Brief Summary
The Safe, Healthy, Adolescent Relationships and Peers study seeks to understand some of the factors that contribute to the behaviors and health of teen girls, such as girl's friendships, their dating behaviors, their risk-taking behaviors, and their knowledge about how to make healthy choices. This study will inform us on ways to help teen girls engage in safe and healthy relationships and adjustment.
Detailed Description
Initiation of drug use and participation in sexual-risk behaviors such as having multiple sexual partners, unprotected sexual intercourse, and intercourse with drug users are all too common among girls with at-risk histories, such as those who have experienced poverty, abuse, neglect, or been in the juvenile justice system. Studies consistently find that these girls have disproportionately high rates of these problems that, in addition to increasing risk for negative outcomes, have other costly sequelae such as drug addiction, early pregnancy, sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV contraction, delinquency, and early mortality (e.g., Santelli et al., 2001; Stueve et al., 2005). In our prior work, the investigators showed that the investigators could prevent early onset sexual intercourse and tobacco and marijuana initiation in pre-teen girls in foster care. Although this intervention, delivered to girls who were 11-years old and had not yet entered middle school, demonstrated efficacy, the investigators know very little about how to prevent the more serious and costly sexual-risk and illicit drug use behaviors in at-risk girls during the high school years, a period of risk for engagement in such behaviors. This study builds from this prior work to develop a new intervention for teenage girls with early adversity.
Investigators
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- •reside in Lane County and within 70 miles of the University of Oregon
- •have a current caregiver
- •both girl and caregiver are fluent in English
Exclusion Criteria
- •are medically fragile
- •have a significant developmental disability
- •have graduated from high school or have a General Educational Diploma (GED)
Outcomes
Primary Outcomes
Delinquency measured by official arrest records and standardized questionnaires
Time Frame: Up to 12 months
Reduction in delinquent behaviors for teens participating in the intervention arm measured by official arrest records and standardized questionnaires, including the Youth Symptom inventory, the Elliott Self-report Delinquency Scale, the Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment, and the Parent Daily Report.
Sexual Risk Behavior
Time Frame: Up to 12 months
Reduction in high risk sexual behaviors for teens participating in the intervention arm measured by standardized questionnaires, including Partner and Peer Behavior, Conflict in Adolescent Dating, Sexual Health Scale, and the Parent Daily Report.
Secondary Outcomes
- Parenting measured by change in parenting practices for parents participating in the intervention arm measured by standardized questionnaires(Up to 12 months)
- Substance Use(Up to 12 months)