substance use and serious problem behavior were low
in our first waves of data collection, we were unable to
effectively evaluate whether we had a preventive effect
on these outcomes. Follow-up of the adolescents
as they transition in to high school is an important
feature of the project, because participants will enter
a period of increased risk for delinquency, substance
use, and other problem behavior (Schulenberg et al.,
1997), and if any preventive effects of the Familias
Unidas intervention exist, they are more likely to be
evident at that time.
A second avenue of research for our program
is careful analysis of the clinical processes of the intervention.
We are currently involved in a study to
code the kinds of facilitator and participant interactions
that take place within the intervention sessions.
We assume that some of the variability found in
our intervention effects will be due to the facilitator’s
style implementation and to the quality of parent-toparent
interactions within the PSNs. These kinds of
analyses of clinical processes that occur within the intervention
are an underused technique in prevention
science. However, they can provide a rich source of
data for further refinement of the intervention techniques
and practices during the redesign phase of
interventions.
Finally, the Familias Unidas intervention model is
now being applied in an intervention to prevent risky
sexual behavior in adolescents (Pantin, Schwartz,
Sullivan, & Szapocznik, 2001). Although some of the
content of the intervention will be decidedly different
for this new application, the principles and processes
of the intervention, empowering parents, teaching
parenting skills, strengthening relationships within
and across social ecological domains, using a problemposing,
participatory learning format in a multiparent
group format, will remain intact. Many of the parenting
skills targeted are also similar, yet some differences
are also notable. For example, the new application
teaches parents to communicate effectively
with their adolescents, but includes an additional focus
on issues of risky sexuality. We believe that the
flexible model of Familias Unidas and the promising
preliminary outcomes are likely to generalize to other
negative adolescent outcomes such as risky sexual
behavior.