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Objective: This report extends earlier accounts by addressing the effects of the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program across 65 months. Two hypotheses were tested: (a) Rural African American youths randomly assigned to participate in SAAF would demonstrate lower rates of alcohol use than would control youths more than 5 years later, and (b) SAAF's effects on deterring the onset of alcohol use in early adolescence would carry forward to mediate the program's long-term effects. Method: African American youths in rural Georgia (mean age at pretest = 10.8 years) were assigned randomly to the SAAF group (n = 369) or to a control group (n = 298). Past-month alcohol use was assessed at pretest and at 9, 18, 29, 53, and 65 months after pretest. Results: SAAF participants increased their alcohol use at a slower rate than did adolescents in the control condition across the follow-up assessments. At the 65-month assessment, SAAF participants reported having drunk alcohol half as often as did youths in the control group. Consistent with the second hypothesis, SAAF's effects on deterring initiation carried forward to account for its effects on alcohol use across time. Conclusions: Training in protective parenting processes and self-regulatory skills during preadolescence may contribute to a self-sustaining trajectory of disinterest in and avoidance of alcohol use during adolescence when peers begin to model and sanction it. Keywords: adolescence, African American, alcohol, intervention, prevention DOI: 10.1037/a0018552

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01288.x Byline: Gene H. Brody (1), Steven R. H. Beach (1), Robert A. Philibert (2), Yi-fu Chen (3), Velma McBride Murry (3) Abstract: A randomized prevention design was used to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a polymorphism in the SCL6A4(5HTT) gene at 5-HTTLPR and increases in youths' risk behavior initiation. Participation in the Strong African American Families (SAAF) program was hypothesized to attenuate the link between 5-HTTLPR status and risk behavior initiation. Youths (N = 641, M age = 11.2 years) were assigned randomly to a SAAF or control condition. Risk behavior initiation across 29 months was linked positively with the 5-HTTLPR genotype and negatively with SAAF participation. Control youths at genetic risk initiated risk behavior at twice the rate of SAAF youths at genetic risk and youths not at genetic risk in either condition. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Georgia (2)University of Iowa (3)University of Georgia Article note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Gene H. Brody, Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, 1095 College Station Road, Athens, GA 30602-4527. Electronic mail may be sent to gbrody@uga.edu.

Using data from 747 rural African American mothers, this study incorporated role accumulation theory to test direct and indirect effects of stressors, coping behaviors, and role responsibilities on health functioning. Results indicated that demands emerging from financial strain were related to compromised mental health and decreases in mothers' use of effective coping strategies and role responsibility engagement. Conversely, mothers who effectively responded to stressors and fulfilled responsibilities to their children and communities experienced enhanced mental health, which in turn promoted optimal physical health. The results can inform research and intervention with African American women. KEYWORDS African Americans, health, mothers, role responsibilities, stressors

Byline: Cady Berkel (1), Velma McBride Murry (2), Tera R. Hurt (3), Yi-fu Chen (4), Gene H. Brody (4), Ronald L. Simons (5), Carolyn Cutrona (6), Frederick X. Gibbons (6) Keywords: African American; Adolescents; Gender differences; Rural; Racism; Racial socialization; Parenting; Racial identity; Community influences; SEM; Focus groups; Mixed methods Abstract: Prior research demonstrates negative consequences of racism, however, little is known about community, parenting, and intrapersonal mechanisms that protect youth. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study illuminated linkages between positive and negative contextual influences on rural African American adolescent outcomes. Quantitative results provide support for Structural Ecosystems Theory, in that the influence of discrimination and collective socialization on adolescent outcomes was mediated by racial socialization and positive parenting. Parenting and community influences contributed to adolescent racial identity and self image, which protected against common negative responses to racism including academic underachievement, succumbing to peer pressure, and aggressive tendencies. Qualitative results indicate that current measures of discrimination may underestimate adolescents' experiences. Adolescents reported racist experiences in the domains of school, peers, and with the police (males only). Moreover, qualitative findings echoed and expanded quantitative results with respect to the importance of the protective nature of parents and communities. Author Affiliation: (1) Prevention Research Center, Arizona State University, 900 S McAllister Ave, Tempe, AZ, 85287-6005, USA (2) Human and Organizational Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA (3) Center for Family Research West, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA (4) Center for Family Research, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA (5) Department of Sociology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA (6) Department of Psychology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA Article History: Registration Date: 09/09/2008 Received Date: 09/07/2008 Accepted Date: 09/09/2008 Online Date: 23/09/2008

The authors used a longitudinal, prospective design to investigate a moderation effect in the association between a genetic vulnerability factor, a variable nucleotide repeat polymorphism in the promoter region of 5HTT (5-HTTLPR), and increases in youths' substance use. The primary study hypothesis predicted that involved--supportive parenting would attenuate the link between the 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and longitudinal increases in substance use. African American youths residing in rural Georgia (N = 253, mean age = 11.5 years) provided 4 waves of data on their own substance use; the mothers of the youths provided data on their own parenting practices. Genetic data were obtained from youths via saliva samples. Latent growth curve modeling indicated that 5-HTTLPR status (presence of 1 or 2 copies of the s allele) was linked with increases in substance use over time; however, this association was greatly reduced when youths received high levels of involved--supportive parenting. This study demonstrates that parenting processes have the potential to ameliorate genetic risk. Keywords: adolescence, African American, genetics, parenting, substance use

INTRODUCTION The rate of obesity among children has more than doubled the past 30 years (Berkowitz and Stunkard 2002) increasing concern about its physical and emotional health consequences (Braet, Mervielde, […]

INTRODUCTION The rate of obesity among children has more than doubled the past 30 years (Berkowitz and Stunkard 2002) increasing concern about its physical and emotional health consequences (Braet, Mervielde, […]

This article uses a sample of 867 African American households to investigate differences in parenting practices and child outcomes by type of household. Results indicate that mothers provide similar levels of parenting regardless of family structure. Secondary caregivers, however, show a great deal of variation in quality of parenting. Fathers and grandmothers engage in the highest quality parenting, stepfathers the poorest, with other relatives falling in between. These differences in parenting do not explain family structure differences in child behavior problems. Results suggest that children do best when there are two caregivers in the household, although stepfathers are an exception to this rule. Child behavior problems are found to be no greater in either mother-grandmother or mother-relative families than in households with two biological parents. In terms of risk for child behavior problems, these family forms seem to be functionally equivalent. Keywords: African American families; parenting; stepfamilies; child behavior problems

The Strong African American Families Program, a universal preventive intervention to deter alcohol use among rural African American adolescents, was evaluated in a cluster-randomized prevention trial. This 7-week family skills training program is based on a contextual model in which intervention effects on youth protective factors lead to changes in alcohol use. African American 11-year-olds and their primary caregivers from 9 rural communities (N = 332 families) were randomly selected for study participation. Communities were randomized to prevention and control conditions. Intent-to-treat analyses indicated that fewer prevention than control adolescents initiated alcohol use; those who did evinced slower increases in use over time. Intervention-induced changes in youth protective factors mediated the effect of group assignment on long-term changes in use. Keywords: African American, adolescents, intervention, prevention, substance use

Communication using power line as a medium provides a convenient and inexpensive way for data transmission and control signaling in the households. In this paper, we will introduce a power-line channel model as well as architecture of a spread-spectrum baseband transceiver integrated circuit (IC) for a power-line modem. The modulation and spreading scheme used in the proposed transceiver is M-ary bi-orthogonal keying (MBOK). This transceiver runs at a chipping rate of 256 kHz and provides 128-Kbps data rate. Simulation results as well as FPGA emulation verify the effectiveness of the proposed architecture for household data communication. Index Terms--Home automation, modern, power line, spread spectrum.