Resilience and risk: childhood and uncertainty in the AIDS epidemic.

In a study of depression and risk among HIV-affected young people (children whose parents are infected with or have died from HIV/AIDS), subjects did not report high risk sexual or substance use behavior. Findings are attributed to parental participation in a community-based HIV service program that provides parents with HIV prevention education and long term social and emotional support. Multi-generational community based models of prevention that include parents as critical elements of instruction may also be effective in substance abuse treatment programs and in programs for children who experience difficulty in school.