State CYFAR Program Spotlight

Iowa's SFP: 10-14

A 12-year-old boy crouches behind a blanket held by two others, clutching a mock fishing pole. On the other side of the blanket, others attach notes to the end of the fishing line. They read, “good listener” and “helps me when I need help”. The boy nods and lifts the hooked notes over the blanket into his imaginary boat, accepting them as answers to the question, “What makes a good friend?”

This fishing exercise is one of the games used in the Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth 10-14. SFP:10-14, as it is known, is a program that reduces the incidence of drug abuse and problem behaviors. It is based on research showing that youth who communicate well with their parents and who are equipped with good coping skills and competencies are better able to resist peer pressure, and less likely to show problem behaviors during their teen years.

The program design is a series of seven two-hour weekly meetings for youth of this age and their parents or caregivers. For the first hour of each meeting, youth and parents meet separately. A facilitator leads parents through topics such as love and limits, making house rules, and building bridges. A video dramatization kicks-starts each conversation. In another room, two facilitators lead youth through fun activities such as the fishing game described above, whose subject matter complements what the parents are learning. During the second hour, families and facilitators gather in one room and discuss questions such as “what do we value in our family?” and “What did you dream of becoming when you were my age?”

CYFAR members across the county may already have heard about Iowa State University’s SFP: 10-14, or its sister program. PROSPER, done in cooperation with Penn State. Its popularity has spread beyond these two states and it has been added to National 4-H’s Programs of Distinction database and is a 2007 Annie E. Casey award winner.

The research base of the program (see below) identifies the transition to middle school environments as one in which parental influence decreases and peer influence increases. Strong coping abilities and decision-making skills and positive parent-school involvement can help youth resist peer pressure to get involved in risky behaviors. To do this, the program trains youth to deal with stress, goal-setting and leads to two sessions on “handling peer pressure.” Meanwhile, parents learn to erect the velvet ropes of guidance and address misbehaviors when they happen.

Evaluation reveals that parents showed better communication, anger control and positive involvement with the child immediately post-program. They were better able to monitor the youths’ whereabouts, who their friends and their friends’ parents were, and could get their children to do their chores.

Follow-up studies show that four years after completing the program, tenth graders showed a 32% relative reduction in alcohol use compared with a control group. They were 58% less likely to report aggressive behaviors and approximately half as likely to smoke cigarettes.

The program is very replicable – it has been used in 41 US states and four other countries, and has been translated into Spanish and Swedish. In the US, it has been used in urban and rural settings and adapted to Hmong and Latino audiences. The program allows cultural adaptation. “We are not teaching values, just getting them to discuss what their values are,” said Marilyn Bode, extension specialist and program evaluator.

SFP: 10-14 is not a referred program, but is open to any family. It addresses the risks that many adolescents face. According to one researcher, (see Dryfoos below) 65% of US adolescents are at risk of substance use, violence or academic failure, and all could benefit from interventions designed to prevent experimentation with risky behaviors. It also strengthens communications and bolsters relations between parents and children.

Families are recruited for participation from seven school districts in two Iowa counties. “The hardest part is recruiting,” Bode said. “Families don’t want to commit the time for problems they haven’t begun to see yet. We have to give incentives for them to come, such as a meal before the session and babysitting for the younger siblings.” But retention, she said, is no problem at all because parents can see the value of the course long before it’s finished. “Once they come to a session, they don’t miss any. They don’t know how valuable it will be until they come.”

You may wish to consult:

Iowa State University’s Strengthening Families Program

Program of Distinction: SPF: 10-14

Dryfoos, J. (1997), The prevalence of problem behaviors: Implications for programs. In R. Weissberg, T. Gullotta et al. (Eds) Healthy children 2010: Enhancing children’s wellness: Vol. 8. Issues in children’s and families’ lives (pp17-46). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.

Redmond, C, Spoth, R., Shin, C., & Lepper, H. (1999) Modeling long-term parent outcomes of two universal family-focused preventive interventions: One year follow-up results. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67(6), 975-984.

See previous Program Spotlight articles