Chunki Fong, MS¹, Steve Magura, PhD, CSW¹, Andrew Rosenblum, PhD¹, Chris Norwood, BA², Doris Casella, MEd², Phyllis Curry, BA¹, and Jerome Skinner². (1) Institute for Treatment and Services Research, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., 71 West 23rd Street, 8th floor, New York, NY 10010, 212-845-4522, Fong@ndri.org, (2) Health People, 552 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10455

This study evaluates the effectiveness of peer mentoring (PM) for at-risk young adolescents. Children (9-15 years old), who had a parent/guardian who was HIV+, were voluntarily randomly assigned to: (a) experimental - a PM program centered around 20 older trained Peer Mentors with adult supervision; or (b) to services and referrals from a local CBO. Study subjects (50 experimentals; 35 controls) are the first randomized eligibles who have 1 year follow-up data available. Subjects were 46% male, 58% African-American, 32% Hispanic; mean age was 11.8. The dependent variable was proportion of friends who use drugs, tobacco or alcohol at 1 year followup. Variables selected as putative covariates included demographics, parental HIV disclosure, drug use and measures of resiliency and family functioning. Because only half of the assigned experimentals attended PM groups, attendance (rather than group assignment) was used as the variable representing the effectiveness of peer mentoring participation. (Among experimentals who did attend weekly PM groups, the mean attendance frequency was 18.4.) Baseline variables that were significantly (p < .05) associated with drug-using peer affiliation at followup were: baseline peer affiliation, older age, community availability of drugs and weapons, low family discipline, parental permissiveness, and moral disengagement. In multivariate stepwise regression: parental permissiveness (beta=0.34), moral disengagement (beta= 0.33), and PM attendance (beta=-0.19) significantly predicted affiliation with drug-using peers at follow-up. Results show that participating in peer mentoring group activities may reduce the size of peer drug-user networks among at-risk youth. Supported by NICHD; Grant RO1-HD37350.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session participants will be able to

• Identify personal and social factors associated with drug-using peer networks among HIV-affected youth;
• Appreciate the importance of peer mentoring group activities for inner-city at-risk youth;
• Recognize the feasibility of a peer-mentoring intervention for at-risk youth;
• Describe the basic features of a peer-mentoring intervention.

Keywords: Adolescents, Risk Factors

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.