Underage Drinking

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine whether Guiando Buenas Decisiones, a parent-focused alcohol prevention program, can help prevent or delay alcohol initiation and use among Hispanic immigrant adolescents ages 12 to 14 from low-income families. The study will also examine how well the program can be implemented through a faith-based community organization. The main questions this study aims to answer are: 1. Does the refined Guiando Buenas Decisiones program help prevent or delay alcohol initiation and use among adolescents? 2. Does the refined Guiando Buenas Decisiones program improve family, individual, and sociocultural risk and protective factors related to adolescent alcohol use, as reported by parents and adolescents? 3. What individual- and organizational-level barriers and facilitators affect implementation of the refined Guiando Buenas Decisiones program? 4. What are the reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance outcomes of delivering the refined Guiando Buenas Decisiones program through a faith-based community organization? The study will first conduct a small pilot to refine Guiando Buenas Decisiones and optimize the intervention and study procedures based on feedback from participating families. The study will then conduct a randomized controlled trial comparing families who receive the refined Guiando Buenas Decisiones program with families assigned to a wait-list control group. Families in the wait-list control group will be offered Guiando Buenas Decisiones after completing the 6-month follow-up assessment. The refined Guiando Buenas Decisiones program consists of seven weekly sessions, each lasting approximately 2 hours, delivered by trained community health workers and lay church members. In the randomized trial, parents and adolescents will complete separate assessments at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 6 months after the intervention. These assessments will examine adolescent alcohol initiation and use and family, individual, and sociocultural risk and protective factors related to adolescent alcohol use. Information will also be collected from parents, program facilitators, and organizational stakeholders to identify individual- and organizational-level barriers and facilitators to implementation and to assess implementation outcomes in a faith-based community setting.

Underage drinking is a significant problem in the United States. While past research supports the efficacy of interventions in delaying the initiation of alcohol use implemented in middle school and early high school, research shows drinking by older high schoolers is problematic and interventions for older high schoolers remain limited. The current project will test the efficacy of the e-CHECKUP TO GO (eCTG), alone and combined with an electronic-Parent-Based Intervention (ePBI), for junior and senior high school students using a nationally representative sample with the goal of reducing alcohol use and negative consequences.