Strong African American Families Program (SAAF)

The program is a preventive intervention for African American adolescents living in rural areas who are transitioning to secondary education. The goal is to strengthen children’s skill development, to provide parenting skills training, and to train beneficiaries in positive family interactions.
It is implemented through 5 group sessions supported by DVDs, where storytellers address specific content, and a group of actors simulates a family, demonstrating behavioral scenarios and interactions related to the program’s objectives. Each session has one hour of separate work with youth and parents, and one hour of joint work. The content provides parents with skills to foster adolescent self-regulation and the development of a negative attitude toward drug abuse and other risky behaviors. A module on sexual health is included.

Impact evaluations

Impact evaluation studies revealed that the program contributed to the strengthening of parenting skills through the development of communication skills and the use of discipline in a conscious and effective way, in improving parent-child relationships, in the increased involvement of parents in their children’s lives [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] and in reducing depressive symptoms among caregivers participating in the program [9].
Significant improvements were observed in the reduction of youth risk behaviors, such as use of alcohol [1] [2] [3] [5] [7] [9] [10] [11] and other drugs [11], and early or unprotected sexual activity [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [9]. In addition, adolescents who participated in the program showed improvements in racial socialization, youth resilience [2] [3], intrapersonal skills [9], reduced youth depression [5], and self-regulation and self-control processes [11] [12], significantly attenuating the association between low self-control in childhood and socioeconomic outcomes in young adulthood. That is, participants had higher employment income and were less likely to live in poverty compared to those in the control group, who did not receive the intervention [12].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Brody, G. H., Murry, V. M., Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F. X., Molgaard, V., McNair, L., Brown, A. C., Wills, T. A., Spoth, R. L., Luo, Z., Chen, Y.-f., & Neubaum-Carlan, E. (2004). The Strong African American Families Program: Translating research into prevention programming. Child Development, 75(3), 900–917. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2004.00713.x

[2] Brody, G. H., McBride Murry, V., McNair, L., Chen, Y. F., Gibbons, F. X., Gerrard, M., & Ashby Wills, T. (2005). Linking changes in parenting to parent–child relationship quality and youth self‐control: The Strong African American Families Program. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 15(1), 47–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2005.00086.x

[3] Brody, G. H., Murry, V. M., Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F. X., McNair, L., Brown, A. C., Wills, T. A., Molgaard, V., Spoth, R. L., Luo, Z., & Chen, Y.-f. (2006). The Strong African American Families Program: Prevention of youths' high-risk behavior and a test of a model of change. Journal of Family Psychology, 20(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.20.1.1

[4] Gerrard, M., Gibbons, F. X., Brody, G. H., Murry, V. M., Cleveland, M. J., & Wills, T. A. (2006). A theory-based dual-focus alcohol intervention for preadolescents: The Strong African American Families program. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 20(2), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-164X.20.2.185

[5] Brody, G. H., Chen, Y., Kogan, S. M., Yu, T., Molgaard, V. K., DiClemente, R. J. & Wingood, G. M. (2012). Family-centered program deters substance use, conduct problems, and depressive symptoms in black adolescents. Pediatrics, 129(1), 108–115. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-0623.

[6] Murry, V. M., McNair, L. D., Myers, S. S., Chen, E., & Brody, G. H. (2014). Intervention induced changes in perceptions of parenting and risk opportunities among rural African American. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 23(2), 422-436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-013-9714-5

[7] Brody, G. H., Yu, T., Miller, G. E., Ehrlich, K. B., & Chen, E. (2019). Preventive parenting intervention during childhood and young black adults’ unhealthful behaviors: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(1), 63–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12968

[8] Brody, G. H., Kogan, S. M., Chen, Y.-f., & Murry, V. M. (2008). Long-term effects of the Strong African American Families Program on youths’ conduct problems. Journal of Adolescent Health, 43(5), 474–481. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2008.04.016

[9] Beach, S. R. H., Kogan, S. M., Brody, G. H., Chen, Y. -f., Lei, M. -K., & Murry, V. M. (2008). Change in caregiver depression as a function of the Strong African American Families Program. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(2), 241–252. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.22.2.241

[10] Murry, V. M., Berkel, C., Brody, G. H., Gibbons, M., & Gibbons, F. X. (2007). The Strong African American Families program: Longitudinal pathways to sexual risk reduction. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(4), 333–342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.04.003

[11] Kogan, S. M., Bae, D., Lei, M.-K., & Brody, G. H. (2019). Family-centered alcohol use prevention for African American adolescents: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 87(12), 1085–1092. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000448

[12] Brody, G. H., Yu, T., Miller, G. E., & Chen, E. (2020). A family‐centered prevention ameliorates the associations of low self‐control during childhood with employment income and poverty status in young African American adults. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(4), 425–435. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13139

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