Predictors of Engagement and Attendance of a Family-Based Prevention Program for Underage Drinking in Mexico

Underage drinking represents a major global health problem. Given the crisis that underage drinking represents, Tomando Buenas Decisiones, a family-based prevention program, was adapted and piloted in Mexico based on the existing Guiding Good Choices program. Although family-based interventions in the USA are promising for preventing underage drinking, little is known about how adapted versions of these interventions may work in low-middle income countries, such as in Latin America. The present study examined whether baseline individual, familial, and cultural factors predict participants’ engagement and attendance in an adapted program for preventing underage drinking in Zacatecas, Mexico. The study was conducted with a sample of 178 parents who participated in the adapted program and were employed at local private companies. Latent growth curve modeling was used to analyze (a) change in engagement, (b) predictors of engagement, and (c) predictors of attendance. Results indicated that perceived engagement evidenced a significant linear increase throughout the intervention. Participants’ familism values, such as perceived family as referents and family support, at baseline predicted both initial levels of and change in engagement. Perceived familial obligation also predicted change in engagement. Attendance was negatively predicted by male gender, by perceived stress, and by perceived familial obligations among women only. Poor family management, and perceived familial obligations among men, positively predicted attendance. Our findings have important implications for the conceptualization of engagement and attendance in family-based preventive interventions for underage drinking among Hispanics. Researchers interested in implementing interventions in Latin America can use these findings to better comprehend how and for whom adapted family-based preventive interventions work.