Life-Course Studies

Studies

NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) 1991-1999

SECCYD began as the Study of Early Child Care in 1991. Working with more than 1,300 children and their families, the researchers analyzed how different child care arrangements related to measurements of the children’s health, behavior, school performance, and other indicators of development in infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, and middle adolescence.  https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/seccyd

For study design and major outcomes click here. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/documents/seccyd_06.pdf

Principal Investigator, Dr. Cathryn Booth-LaForce and Co-investigator Dr. Susan Spieker. Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development R01

Drug Use and Parenting Adolescents

The Young Women’s Health Study is a longitudinal study of two groups of young women who became premaritally pregnant at age 17 or younger, and their children.  The young women were recruited primarily from public health clinics, social service agencies, and school programs in the greater Seattle area.

We have completed five rounds of funding for the project. The first grant (DUPA1, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse—NIDA) began in 1987, and recruited Cohort 1. The second grant recruited Cohort 2 and continued to follow Cohort 1 (DUPA2, funded by NIDA). The third grant continued to follow Cohort 2, and focused on the children (DUPA Kids, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health—NIMH). Simultaneously with the DUPA Kids grant, the fourth grant continued to follow Cohort 1 (DUPA Moms, funded by NIDA). The fifth, and final grant is entitled “Tandem Risk: Outcomes for Children of Teen Mothers”, and was funded by NIDA. The funding dates were 4/1/03 – 9/30/08, and funded the continuation of data collection with both Cohort 1 and Cohort 2.

Research Overview

Teenaged childbearing has been widely discussed as a powerful risk factor predicting poor developmental and social outcomes for both young mothers and their children. Yet, recent work suggests important distinctions among specific subgroups of adolescent mothers and their children, some of whom experience negative outcomes while others do not.  Further, the nature of the tandem risk to mother and child has not been examined using perspectives and methods now available from the rapidly growing and relevant field of developmental psychopathology.

This research study capitalizes on longitudinal data from a diverse sample of young women who gave birth as unmarried teenagers, and examined intragroup heterogeneity in the life trajectories of young women who became premaritally pregnant when they were 17 or younger, and their children, using a developmental psychopathology perspective.  We examined the relationship between various maternal profiles and the early adoption or avoidance of problem behavior among their children during late childhood and adolescence. The resulting research will contribute to new models of intergenerational transmission of both problematic outcomes and resilience in a sample presumed to be at high risk for negative social and developmental outcomes.

Study Cohorts

Cohort 1 includes 240 young women who were 12-17 years old when pregnant and entering the study in 1988-1990. They have been interviewed 17 times: during pregnancy, and at 1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 1½ years, 3½ years, 4 years, 4½ years, 5 years, 5½ years, 6 years, 9½ years, 10½ years, and 11½, 15, 16, and 17 years postpartum. Due to minimal attrition, the Cohort 1 sample size at the final interview was 212.

Cohort 2 includes 255 young women who were 12-17 years old, pregnant and were recruited in the second NIDA grant in 1992-93. They have been interviewed 14 times: during pregnancy, and at 6 months, 1 year, 1½ years, 2 years, 2½ years, 3 years, 4½ years, at kindergarten, 1st grade, and 10½, 11½, 12½, and 13½ years postpartum. Due minimal attrition, and the decision made in the DUPA Kids grant to not follow a subset of the sample who did not have certain child measures, the final Cohort 2 interview sample was 180.

Principal Investigator, Dr. Lew Gilchrist, and Co-investigators Dr. Susan Spieker and Dr. Monica Oxford. Current Principal Investigator Dr. Olivia Lee, lee363@usc.edu

Longitudinal Study on Child Abuse and Neglect

LONGSCAN is a consortium of research studies operating under common by-laws and procedures. It was initiated in 1991 with grants from the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect to a coordinating center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and five data collection sites. Each site is conducting a separate and unique research project on the etiology and impact of child maltreatment. While each project can stand on its own merits, through the use of common assessment measures, similar data collection methods and schedules, and pooled analyses, LONGSCAN is a collaborative effort that is truly greater than the sum of its parts. The goal of LONGSCAN is to follow the 1300+ children and their families until the children themselves become young adults. Maltreatment data are collected from multiple sources, including review of Child Protective Service records every two years. Yearly telephone interviews allow the sites to track families and assess yearly service utilization and important life events. In addition to the specific focus of the individual studies, the coordinated LONGSCAN design permits a comprehensive exploration of many critical issues in child abuse and neglect on a combined sample of sufficient size for unprecedented statistical power and flexibility. Built into the LONGSCAN design is also the ability to replicate and extend findings across a variety of ethnic, social and economic subgroups. The findings of LONGSCAN will provide a scientific basis for policy-making, program planning, and targeting service delivery by increasing our understanding of the following:

  • the child, family, and community factors which increase the risk for maltreatment in its different forms;
  • the differential consequences of maltreatment, depending upon its timing, duration, severity, and nature, and upon the child’s age and cultural environment;
  • the child, family, and community factors (e.g., chronic exposure to violence, parental substance abuse) that increase the harm caused by different forms of maltreatment;
  • the factors that increase the probability of positive child outcomes despite maltreatment and other adverse life circumstances;
  • the strengths and weaknesses of various societal interventions such as child welfare programs, foster care, mental health services, parenting classes, etc. Some of the sites are involved in intervention research and evaluation of services, expediting the integration of research findings into policy and practice.

Comprehensive assessments of children, their parents, and their teachers have been completed at child ages 4, 6, and 8, and 12. Annual caregiver telephone contact interviews have been completed through child age 11. Data collection continues at child ages 14, 16, and 18.

https://www.ndacan.acf.hhs.gov/datasets/dataset-details.cfm?ID=158

Current Seattle Principal Investigator, Dr. Monica Oxford (prior Seattle PI Dr. Diana English)

Early Head Start and Attachment

Three studies embedded in Early Head start include: 2004-2007, a grant titled Incorporating and attachment Q-set into parent-child relationship assessment and support in early Head Start funded by the Administration on Children and Families (ACF). From 1996-2005, a grant titled Attachment in Early Head Start process and outcome, funded by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

Principle Investigator, Dr. Susan Spieker

Intersecting Ecologies of Risk and Early School Adaption

This study examines and tests a model of school adaptation under an ecological perspective which captures variation in economic context, family stress, and caregiver simultaneously.

Principal Investigator, Dr. Monica Oxford. NICHD: RO3 HD054428-01

New Methods for Coding Parent-Child Relationships within a Sample of Maltreated Infants and Toddlers

The purpose of this proposal is to assess a highly- innovated method for coding parental-child interaction that can account for child outcomes over and above traditional methods of coding caregiver sensitivity. Fragmented and Unpredictable parental behavior (FRAG). FRAG coding, discovered in labs assessing rodent caregiving models, was recently applied to a sample of human parent-child dyads. We will evaluate the utility of this coding method within a sample of maltreated infants and toddlers.

Principal Investigator, Dr. Monica Oxford, Research Intramural Funding Program, School of Nursing