Innovative Family Prevention With Latino Siblings in Disadvantaged Settings
Innovative Family Prevention With Latino Siblings in Disadvantaged Settings
The current study is a randomized intervention trial that tests the efficacy of a family-focused sibling relationship promotion program. The study includes a treatment group and a contact-equivalent attention control condition with 288 sibling dyads and data collection with target parents, target sibling dyads, and teachers at three time points (pre-test, post-test, and 18-month follow-up). Data will be collected using a three-cohort design with 96 families in each of the three cohorts.
The proposed project tests the efficacy of a family-focused program. This innovative program is focused on sibling relationships and parenting of siblings as synergistic targets of change to promote positive interpersonal family dynamics and parent and youth psychosocial and behavioral health and well-being. This translational effort builds on strong theoretical and empirical premises including a successful pilot study (ASU SIBS Program). Using a rigorous design and measurement, aims are to: (a) test the efficacy of SIBS, delivered via 12 weekly afterschool sibling sessions and 3 family nights in the familiar elementary school setting, versus a contact-equivalent attention control condition. Mexican-origin sibling dyads (5th graders and younger siblings; N = 288 dyads) and their parents will be recruited from economically disadvantaged elementary schools and randomly assigned within school to intervention or contact-equivalent attention control conditions. Assessments will be conducted at pre-test, post-test, and 18-month follow-up. Program effects will be tested on primary and secondary outcomes, including sibling relationship quality (i.e., warmth and negativity), sibling relationship skills, children's efficacy (social, emotional), children's internalizing symptoms, parents' stress and depressive symptoms, parent-child warmth and conflict, and family cohesion. Findings will advance prevention science by identifying an efficacious program that capitalizes on cultural assets to promote positive family dynamics and psychosocial well-being among Latinos, including by incorporating daily measurements of intervention targets (sibling relationship skills) to identify mechanisms underlying program effects.
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
- Enrollment in a self-contained special education setting