AIDS is the leading killer of African-Americans between the ages of 25 and 44, many of whom became infected when they were teenagers or young adults. The disparity in HIV infection rate among African-Americans youth residing in rural Southern regions of the United States suggests that there is an urgent need to identify ways to promote early preventive intervention to reduce HIV-related risk behavior. The Strong African-American Families (SAAF) program, a preventive intervention for rural African-American parents and their 11-year-olds, was specially designed to deter early sexual onset and the initiation and escalation of alcohol and drug use among rural African-American preadolescents. A clustered-randomized prevention trial was conducted, contrasting families who took part in SAAF with control families. The trial, which included 332 families, indicated that intervention-induced changes occurred in intervention-targeted parenting, which in turn facilitated changes in youths' internal protective processes and positive sexual norms. Long-term follow up assessments when youth were 17 years old revealed that intervention-induced changes in parenting practices mediated the effect of intervention-group influences on changes in the onset and escalation of risky sexual behaviors over 65 months through its positive influence on adolescents' self-pride and their sexual norms. The findings underscore the powerful effects of parenting practices among rural African-American families that over time serve a protective role in reducing youth's risk behavior, including HIV vulnerable behaviors. (Published Abstract)