Week 4 Peer Reviewed Article

One program that addresses these shortcomings is
Families Talking Together (FTT), which we developed in
the context of the Linking Lives Health Education Program,
a parent-based intervention that focuses on healthy living
among middle school students. This intervention is aimed
at delaying the initiation of sexual intercourse among middle
school–aged, inner-city youth. It is developmentally
appropriate, based on extensive formative research, theorydriven
and tailored to the ethnicity of the target population.
19 In an evaluation of the intervention in clinic settings,
Guilamo-Ramos et al.20 assigned Latino and black motheradolescent
dyads to either the intervention condition
or a control group that received the normal “standard of
care.” Dyads were assigned to conditions when they came
to the clinic to obtain an annual physical exam for entry
into school in the fall. While the adolescents were having
their exam, mothers in the experimental condition were
invited into a private room, where they participated in a
30-minute intervention focused on effective communication
and parenting strategies for reducing sexual risk behavior.
Participants then received two follow-up booster calls
over the ensuing fi ve months. Approximately nine months
after the intervention, adolescents from both groups were
interviewed. The primary outcome was whether they had
Epidemiologic surveillance data show that Latino and black
youth experience higher rates of unintended pregnancies,1
STDs,2 and HIV and AIDS 3,4 than their white peers. A
large body of research suggests that parents can infl uence
their adolescent child’s sexual decision making.5–8 Parental
monitoring,7,8 parent-adolescent communication6,9 and
parental attitudes that discourage adolescent sexual intercourse5,7
have been associated with reduced levels of risky
sexual behavior among Latino and black youth. Studies
of parent-based interventions to reduce adolescent sexual
behaviors have... [continues]

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