Family Check up Effects On High Risk Sexual Behavior From Adolescence Through Early Adulthood

This paper examines the impact of the Family Check-Up (FCU; Dishion & Stormshak, 2007) prevention model on high-risk sexual behavior in late adolescence and early adulthood.   The FCU is an adaptive, family-focused, school based prevention program for adolescent emotional and behavior problems. The current analyses examined FCU effects on self-reported high risk sexual behavior across three time-points from age 18-19 through age 24-25, using Complier Average Causal Effect Analysis (CACE) to examine the impact of the intervention on high risk sexual behavior for individuals whose families engaged with the FCU.

 Method

Students were randomly assigned to a family-centered intervention (N=998) in 6th grade and offered a multilevel intervention that included (a) a universal classroom-based intervention, (b) the Family Check Up (FCU; selected), and (c) family management treatment (indicated).  All services were voluntary, and approximately 25% of families engaged in selected and indicated levels.  Participation in the FCU was predicted by absence of biological father from youths’ primary home in 6th grade.  High risk sexual behavior was measured using five items, assessing engagement in sexual intercourse in non-committed relationships, sexual intercourse with someone the individual did not know well, using condoms less than ½ the time, having gotten a sexually-transmitted disease, and pregnancy.

 Results

Relative to randomized matched controls, adolescents whose families engaged in the FCU exhibited significantly lower levels of engagement in high risk sexual behavior at ages 18-19 and 23-24.  However, effects of intervention were not significant at age 24 – 25.  In addition to intervention effects, high risk sexual behavior was predicted from female gender, and antisocial behavior in early adolescence.

 Discussion

These results highlight that the family-centered prevention program predicts significant reductions in high-risk sexual behavior in late adolescence and early adulthood, but that the effects of the family intervention delivered in early adolescence may wane by the time youth are in their mid-twenties.  Future directions in this research include investigating the mechanisms of how participation in the FCU influenced some risky sexual behaviors, and exploring possible additions to the ATP model that would allow us to increase contraceptive behavior in future cohorts of youth.