Reducing HIV Risks in African American Teens in High Poverty Urban Settings

This study is developing and testing an innovative, parent education intervention, Preparing Our Sons and Daughters for Healthy Futures. This intervention aims to reduce HIV risk among African American and other Black youth living in high-poverty urban neighborhoods. Investigators, working with a community advisory board and focus groups of youth and parents, will develop a multi-year set of audio-CDs to promote positive parenting practices that support young adolescents in establishing healthy patterns of behavior. This parent education intervention will be tested in a field trial with families of 6th graders recruited from multiple schools in New York City. Baseline and annual follow up surveys will be conducted until youth enter high school. Families receiving the intervention will be compared to those assigned to either an attention-controlled print materials condition or a non-attention controlled condition. It is hypothesized that youth whose parents receive the intervention will delay sexual initiation and report fewer sexual risks, and that their parents will report more positive parenting practices.