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Abstract
The present study examined the effects of the Middle School Success (MSS) intervention, a program to promote healthy adjustment in foster girls, on their health-risking sexual behavior, using a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design. As hypothesized, girls in the intervention condition (N = 48) showed significantly lower levels of health-risking sexual behavior than did girls in the control condition (N = 52) at 36 months post-baseline. Further path analysis indicated that this intervention effect was fully mediated through its effects on girls' tobacco and marijuana use. Findings highlight the importance of providing preventive intervention services to foster girls during early adolescence.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the following grants: MH054257, NIMH, U.S. PHS, and DA023920, DA024672, and DA027091, NIDA, U.S. PHS. The authors thank Courtenay Padgett, Priscilla Havlis, and Danielle Guerrero for project coordination; Michelle Baumann and Diana Strand for editorial assistance; and the children and families who participated in the project.
Notes
Note. *p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.