PATHWAYS FOR YOUTH-- SCHOOL-TO-JOBS, A PREVENTION MODEL

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DESCRIPTION: (adapted from Investigator's abstract) The specific aim of the current proposal is to provide a true experimental test of the direct and indirect effects of our newly developed preventive intervention, School-to-Jobs (STJ), for youth at risk of school failure, depression and anxiety due to poverty, minority status, living in high stress, low resource neighborhoods and families. STJ is based on our previous research and its focus is integrated with current NIMH funded research, especially Fast Track (NIMH #: R18MH48043), with which we have a collaborative relationship. We hypothesize that STJ will improve outcomes for at-risk minority youth both by bolstering and enhancing the effect of promotive factors which will reduce risk of school failure, anxiety, and depression and improve school outcomes. The proposed selective effectiveness trial involves the full cohort of 8th graders at two high poverty Detroit inner-city high schools who will be randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions (n = 135 each), with all experimental youth receiving the intervention in the fall. Four assessments will take place, first a baseline assessment prior to the intervention, and then three follow-ups in the spring of 8th grade, in the fall and finally in the spring of 9th grade. Tracking procedures will allow us to follow youth as they make the transition to high school and set the groundwork for longitudinal assessment. Multiple risk and promotive factors will be assessed via census track and neighborhood crime data, school records, teacher and youth report. The direct and indirect effects of STJ will be examined via HLM and SEM analyses, allowing for evaluation of the process model as well as the effects of the intervention both synchronously and over time. STJ focuses specifically on African American identity and youths visions of their own future possibilities. As a selective preventive intervention, the application meets a number of the Priorities for Prevention Research at NIMH (Publication number 98-4321) recommendations: We address cultural issues, the need for longitudinal research (recommendation 1), a broadened basis for conduct disorder prevention research and connection with other NIMH funded preventive trials (recommendation 5). We have established collaboration with the community sites with the Fast Track team, with the Detroit Initiative here at the University of Michigan, as well as with Project Aim, a CDC funded prevention effort in Alabama (Leslie Clark, PI)