Reducing HIV Risks in African American Teens

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.