Parental School‐Involvement and Substance Use? A Novel Family‐Based Prevention Strategy for Latino Youth

• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Author: Ronald B. Cox,Isaac J. Washburn,Julie M. Croff,Christopher L. Ringwalt
• Date: 01 October 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12533

R B. C J , I J. W ,  J M. C Oklahoma State

University

C L. R University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Parental School-Involvement and Substance Use?

A Novel Family-Based Prevention Strategy for

Latino Youth

Objective: To examine the association of

parental school involvement with reductions in

adolescent substance initiation among Latino

immigrant youth.

Background: Parental school involvement is an

important determinant of children’s academic

achievement. Likewise, academic achievementis

associated with multiple adolescent health risk

behaviors. Little researchhas examined whether

parental school involvement is associated with

adolescent drug use, and no research has exam-

ined this link among Latino immigrant youth.

Method: Using a census of Latino students

(N=661; mean age =13.1 years) in 12 urban

middle schools, we used a multilevel model

with zero-inated outcomes to test whether (a)

parental school involvement is inversely associ-

ated with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use;

(b) school-level parental involvement affects

individual-level drug use; and (c) child gender

moderates these associations.

Results: Parental school involvement was neg-

atively associated with lifetime prevalence of

all substances and with increases in the age of

rst alcohol use. School-level parental involve-

ment was negatively associated with lifetime

prevalence of substance use and age of rst use

for girls and marginally signicant with boys.

233 Human Sciences, Oklahoma State University,Stillwater

OK, 74078 (r.cox@okstate.edu).

Key Words: early adolescent, Latino, multilevel modeling,

parental school involvement, substance use.

Conclusion: Parental school involvement is a

promising target for prevention efforts to reduce

early-onset substance use.

Implications: Parental school involvement may

address multiple negative outcomes in youth

even for youth whose parents arerelatively unin-

volved, and may increase program dosage.

Latino youth are at increased risk for alcohol,

tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) use and for low

educational attainment (Chen & Jacobson, 2012;

Kuperminc et al., 2009; Rodriguez & Morro-

bel, 2004; Shih et al., 2010). Without novel and

effectiveprevention strategies targeting this pop-

ulation, problem behaviors may increase at a

time when this population is projected to con-

stitute a third of all school-age children in the

United States by 2023 (Snyder & Dillow, 2015).

Prevention scientists are increasingly stress-

ing the need for interventions that address

antecedents common to multiple problems over

outcome-focused approaches that emphasize a

unique intervention for each distinct outcome.

For example, the National Research Coun-

cil and the Institute of Medicine (2009) has

argued that practitioners and researchers alike

have traditionally treated adolescent mental,

emotional, and behavioral problems as if they

were unrelated and as if each evolved from

distinct circumstances. They and others recom-

mend that future efforts to benet children and

their families should focus on the creation of

nurturing environments that modify common

1178 Family Relations 70 (October 2021): 1178–1189

DOI:10.1111/fare.12533