These results suggest more similarities than differences between African American and European American families in relationships between parent-teen interaction variables commonly targeted in preventive interventions and concurrent youth beliefs and behaviors. Overall, these findings support the inclusion of prosocial rewards, problem solving, antisocial rewards, and psychological costs as intervention targets in family-based programs designed to prevent drug initiation and problem behaviors. One interpretation of the moderated relationship between antisocial rewards and drug initiation might be that the emphasis on reducing antisocial rewards in African American families should be lessened in programs that focus narrowly on drug initiation. However, this argument is countered by the fact that antisocial rewards were linked to other beliefs and problem behaviors.
