Iowa State University

Richard Spoth

"Prestigious Award Article" from ISBR 1999 Annual Report

Early in 1998, institute scientist Richard Spoth was notified of a prestigious honor that recognized his research achievements.

>Spoth, the lead investigator on Project Family and the Capable Families and Youth (CaFaY) project, received a MERIT award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  MERIT stands for Method To Extend Research In Time and the award is designed to "provide long-term, stable support to investigators whose research competence is distinctly superior and who are likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner," according to the NIDA award announcement.

The NIDA provided initial funding of $5.3 million over five years to support the CaFaY project.  The MERIT award extends the research five years, providing an additional amount of support likely comparable to the initial funding.

"The best feature of this award is that it rewards everyone who contributed to the effort to develop and implement the project," Spoth said.  "I'm especially pleased for the families and youth who will ultimately benefit.  Our project team cares deeply about the well-being of families in Iowa and beyond.

Spoth is an affiliate associate professor of psychology and project director for prevention programming and research.  He came to Iowa State in 1986.  Originally from a farm family living in western New York, Spoth began studying psychology at the University of Iowa, after earning his undergraduate degree in philosophy and devoting two years to an interdisciplinary doctoral program in psychology and religion.

His research interests include the prevention of substance abuse and other adolescent problem behaviors; preventive intervention research methodology; the development of strategies to enhance recruitment for, and retention in, prevention programs; adapting prevention program evaluation procedures to minority populations; needs assessments for family-focused prevention services; and diffusion of empirically-supported programs.

The CaFaY project began with a survey of more than 1,250 families of seventh graders at 36 Iowa schools in northeast Iowa.  The study will compare the effectiveness of combining school and family programs designed to strengthen families, prevent youth problems and enhance youth life skills.

One group of students will receive life-skills training at school, through a program developed by Cornell University Medical Center, and their families will participate in the Strengthening Families Program 10-14, adapted by ISU's Institute for Social and Behavioral Research.  The second group consists of families whose seventh graders will receive only the school-based training.  The comparison group consists of families whose parents will receive reading material on youth development.

CaFaY is part of Project Family, a collection of studies directed by Spoth that seeks to support and strengthen families by enhancing family and youth skills.  The four goals of Project Family are to evaluate family and youth programs, to assess who is most likely to benefit from these programs, to determine what motivates families and children to participate and to work with ISU Extension to effectively deliver empirically-supported programs to families and youth.