One program which has shown promising results in promoting positive parent-child relationships does so through the instruction of various communication, problem-solving, and perspective-taking skills. The goals of this program, called the Iowa Strengthening Families Program (ISFP), include reducing substance use among adolescents and improving the parent-child relationship, among others (Molgaard & Spoth). An experimental evaluation by Project Family, at the Institute for Social and Behavioral research at Iowa State University, investigated 446 families from low-income areas in Iowa. The sample was randomly assigned to either a control or treatment group, which underwent two-hour teaching sessions over seven weeks. The first hour of the session consisted of separate parent and adolescent training. Among other issues, parents were taught limit-setting, communication, encouraging good behavior, and using community resources; adolescents received training on goal-setting, appreciating parents, dealing with stress, and how to deal with peer pressure. A subsequent hour of joint training focused on appreciating others, understanding family values, conflict resolution, and various communication skills. Data, which was collected for four years after the initial treatment, showed that parents experienced more sophisticated parenting skills, had increased "positive feelings" towards their child, and strong parent-child relationships continued to develop over time. This program has been tailored to work with specific ethnic populations, as well; informal measures suggest similarly successful outcomes, but longitudinal studies are still underway.