This purpose of this study remains the same: to document both the successes and failures of families as they work through transitions. In 1983, the applicant began a prospective study of the development of mental health problems within the family with a primary longitudinal sample of 18-month-old children from 185 families; these children have been seen at 30 months, 4, 7, and 10 years of age. In 1987, a study called Fathers was began with 107 children from high-risk neighborhoods and an additional 90 families who were a close match for the original Origins sample. The children in this sample were 5 years old and have also been studies at ages 7 and 11. These families were examined using the family management variables of Discipline, Monitoring, Problem Solving, and Prosocial Fostering developed at Oregon Social Learning Center, as well as Vygotsky's construct of scaffolding or guided participation. In addition, emotional support has been measured in the child (primarily attachment measures) and family measures of emotional support. Early parenting variables were found to predict children's social and cognitive competencies as they enter school. An intensive probe of friendship and peer relations at age 7 examined the relation of parenting variables to peer relations. When the children were 10 and 11 questionnaire data were collected on family relationships and the child was seen in the laboratory with a peer. Data was also collected on school performance and court records data. At all stages of the study, the data from boys and girls have been analyzed separately and different developmental processes as well as differences in the way that the children interpret their problems and competencies have been found. This application proposes to see the children at 13/14 and will continue to examine parent, child, and peer variables as well as to collect school and court data. At 16/17 a diagnostic interview, an attachment Q-sort, and a career interview will be completed and school and court data will again be collected.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 11 publications
