Linking Families Together Study- A Randomized Trial to Raise Parental Monitoring
Condition: Adolescent Behaviors; Substance Abuse
MeSH terms: Substance-Related Disorders
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      In this study, we will evaluate the efficacy and sustainability of the Linking Families
      Together (LIFT) intervention to improve parental monitoring during the transition from middle
      to high school a particularly risky time for students' academic performance and health
      behaviors. This study is based in middle schools around Los Angeles County a region with a
      high prevalence of teen risky health behaviors.

      The aims of our study are:

        1. To conduct a randomized trial of the LIFT intervention and examine whether providing
           detailed academic information to parents during their child's 7th and 8th grade
           increases parental monitoring at the end of the two year intervention and one year
           follow up. We will partner with 3-10 middle schools and recruit 500 student-parent
           dyads: 250 will be randomized to the intervention arm and 250 to the usual care control
           group.

        2. To determine whether the LIFT intervention improves students' academic outcomes, as
           measured by grades, attendance, and standardized test scores at the end of the two year
           intervention and one year follow up.

        3. To evaluate whether the LIFT intervention lowers rates of adolescent risky health
           behaviors, specifically substance use (alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, and other drugs)
           at the end of the two year intervention and one year follow up.
    

Detailed description: 
      Despite parental monitoring and school involvement being among the most important protective
      factors leading to positive teen academic and health trajectories, few theoretically based
      rigorously evaluated interventions test strategies to support low income parents as their
      adolescents transition from middle to high school, a particularly risky time for students'
      academic and health behaviors.

      In a successful pilot study, student's missing assignments information was communicated
      directly to parents. Intervention parents were nearly twice as likely to report their child
      not telling them enough about his or her school work than control parents. After just 6
      months, intervention students had a 0.19 standard deviation increase in GPA over the control
      group and 0.20 standard deviation higher standardized math test score.

      In the proposed study, we will evaluate the efficacy and sustainability of an intervention to
      improve parental monitoring and thus improve academic outcomes and reduce risky health
      behaviors. The adapted intervention will also include sessions for parents to build positive
      parent-child communication and awareness of school expectations.

      We propose a randomized controlled trial with 2 arms examining whether providing parents
      detailed information on their child's academic and behavioral performance in school in
      combination with basic parenting support, increases parental monitoring for low-income,
      minority families. We hypothesize that better parental monitoring will lead to improved
      academic and behavioral performance. Using this design we can determine whether the impact of
      the information and parenting intervention is also protective of teens engaging in risky
      health behaviors. We will compare the experimental and control group parents to examine
      whether providing high-quality academic information to parents of middle school students
      increases parental monitoring, student academic performance, and teen health outcomes during
      middle school and beyond.

      If the intervention boosts adolescent academic and health outcomes as hypothesized, the
      results of the proposed study offer schools low-cost strategies to simultaneously positively
      influence student academic and health trajectories. These findings have the potential to
      stimulate new research to improve health through innovative interventions to bolster parent
      teen relationships for gains accrued throughout the life span.

      The aims of our study are:

        1. To conduct a randomized trial of the LIFT intervention and examine whether providing
           detailed academic information to parents during their child's 7th and 8th grade
           increases parental monitoring at the end of the two year intervention and one year
           follow up. We will partner with 3-10 middle schools and recruit 500 student-parent
           dyads: 250 will be randomized to the intervention arm and 250 to the usual care control
           group.

        2. To determine whether the LIFT intervention improves students' academic outcomes, as
           measured by grades, attendance, and standardized test scores at the end of the two year
           intervention and one year follow up.

        3. To evaluate whether the LIFT intervention lowers rates of adolescent risky health
           behaviors, specifically substance use (alcohol, marijuana, inhalants, and other drugs)
           at the end of the two year intervention and one year follow up.

      Thus the proposed study builds on and extends the earlier pilot study by recruiting more
      middle schools around Los Angeles, offering parents additional supports through parenting
      workshops, and assessing the program's impact on adolescent behavioral outcomes. Successfully
      implementing this study will allow us to demonstrate feasibility for a future randomized
      controlled trial and assess effect size for parental monitoring and health outcomes.
    

Intervention name(s): LIFT (Parent Information)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Parents will receive specific information about class assignments that the student missed or about poor performance on tests/quizzes. Parents will also be notified about behavioral problems, such as poor attention and class disruption. RA will communicate with parents in Spanish or English by text message, phone, email according to the parents preference for communication
Parents will be invited to parenting seminars to discuss parenting strategies regarding what to do with their child's academic and behavioral information once they receive it from research staff. Sessions will take place at school and last 2 hours. Multiple sessions will be offered throughout the academic year and parents may attend as many sessions as they wish.
Other intervention name(s): Information/ Linking Families Together (LIFT)
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Participant)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Randomized controlled trial; Population, School Age