Early Family Prevention of Adolescent Alcohol, Drug Use, and Psychopathology

The Early Steps Multisite Study is comprised of researchers from the University of Virginia, the University of Pittsburgh, Arizona State University, and Oregon Research Institute. This longitudinal study has been funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health since 2002. The Early Steps Multisite Study conducted a randomized control trial to examine the effects of an intervention program called the Family Check-Up (FCU) offered in early to middle childhood. Outcomes include problem behaviors including substance use. Primary caregivers (PC) and their children (TC) were recruited from Women, Infant, and Children's (WIC) Nutritional Supplement centers in and around Pittsburgh, PA, Eugene, OR and Charlottesville, VA when target participating children were age 2. Participants were screened in three key areas of risk for later child conduct problems: (1) sociodemographic risk (e.g., poverty, teen parent status), (2) family risk (e.g. maternal stress, depressive symptoms), and (3) child conduct problems. Randomization to the intervention condition was balanced on gender to assure an equal number of males and females in the control and intervention groups. Data submitted to dbGaP are from the 515 subjects who were consented to provide a saliva sample. ]]>
To qualify for the study, families had to be above established clinical cutoffs or at least one standard deviation above the normative mean in two of the three categories. In addition, the TC had to demonstrate behavioral problems above the normative mean if problem behavior was not a qualifying category for the family. The initially recruited sample was comprised of 731 participants: 272 (37%) from Pittsburgh, 271 (37%) from Eugene, and 188 (26%) from Charlottesville. Just over half (50.5%) of the TCs were reported as male by the PC at age 2.]]>
Yearly in-home assessments were conducted with families at child ages 2, 3, 4, and 5. Families were notified of their random assignment to receive the FCU intervention model, or not, after their first home visit at child age 2. Study examiners were not informed of the family's assigned group until the end of the home visit.Like previous waves, yearly in-home assessments were conducted with families, at child age 7.5, 8.5, 9.5, and 10.5. Caregivers were asked to complete annual questionnaires, reporting on demographics, caregiver well-being, parenting, and child psychosocial adjustment. TCs were asked to complete questionnaires about their daily life, peer relationships, and substance use. TCs also completed an academic skills assessment. Families were reminded of their group assignment at the end of each assessment. The examiner was blind to intervention status during study assessments. The Monitoring Project was a supplemental study looking at the direct associations between school, after-school care, neighborhood factors, and child problem behavior. Data for the Monitoring Project were collected after the Early Steps study age 7.5, 8.5 and 9.5 in-home assessments.Families took part in two follow up in-home assessments, when the TC was ~14 and ~16 years old. Families in the treatment condition were no longer offered the FCU; these assessments were solely for data collection. At the age 14 assessment a saliva sample was obtained from the TC to examine the connection between genotypes, environment, and their interaction in relation to conduct problems and related problem behavior (for example, drug use). ]]>