Intergenerational Effects of a Family Cash Transfer on the Home Environment
August 22, 2023
A family cash transfer in childhood that had long-term effects on individual functioning did not impact the home environment of participants who became parents. Rather, parents in both groups were providing home environments generally conducive to their children’s growth and development.
Co-Development of Internalizing Symptoms and Regulatory Emotional Self-Efficacy in Adolescence: Time-Varying Effects of COVID-19-Related Stress and Social Support
August 8, 2023
Using data from surveys of Italian adolescents, researchers looked at the pattern of adolescent coping from just before the pandemic started and then for two more years. As adolescents reported feeling more stress about the pandemic, they reported more symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reported feeling less capable of coping with negative emotions. The findings are important for informing interventions to strengthen coping strategies for adolescents during stressful community-wide events.
Intra‐ and Interpersonal Factors and Adolescent Wellbeing During COVID‐19 in Three Countries
June 26, 2023
COVID-19 has altered adolescents’ opportunities for developing and strengthening interpersonal skills and proficiencies. Using data from adolescents in Italy, the United States, and the United Kingdom, we examined the relation between internalizing symptoms assessed pre-pandemic or when pandemic-related restrictions were lifted and associated internalizing symptoms during a subsequent restrictive pandemic period.
Emotion-Related Self-Regulation Profiles in Early Adolescence: A Cross-National Study
June 20, 2023
Researchers studying predictors of adolescents’ adjustment have increasingly focused on temperamental characteristics of self-regulation (e.g., effortful control – EC) and negative emotionality (NE). This study contributed to understanding how different configurations of specific dimensions of NE and EC were associated with aggressive and prosocial behaviors and if these associations differed across genders and three different countries, two of which have seldom been examined.
Kindergarten Conduct Problems are Associated with Monetized Outcomes in Adolescence and Adulthood
May 31, 2023
Researchers examined whether kindergarten conduct problems among mostly population-representative samples of children were associated with increased criminal and related costs across adolescence and adulthood, as well as government and medical services costs in adulthood.
Predicting Adolescent Mental Health Outcomes Across Cultures: A Machine Learning Approach
April 25, 2023
This study demonstrates how data- and theory-driven methods can be integrated to identify the most important preadolescent risk factors in predicting adolescent mental health.
Day-to-day Variation in Adolescent Food Insecurity
April 1, 2023
Food insecurity among adolescents is not static but varies from day to day. This daily variation is greater for economically disadvantaged youth.
Co-Regulation: What It Is and Why it Matters
March 2, 2023
Short video on co-regulation, the interactive process by which caring adults (1) provide warm supportive relationships, (2) promote self-regulation through coaching, modeling, and feedback, and (3) structure supportive environments.
An International Perspective on Parenting and Family Influences on Adolescents and Young Adults
January 9, 2023
In the APA Handbook of Adolescent and Young Adult Development, Jen Lansford and co-authors discuss how parents and their adolescent and young adult offspring observe and participate in parent–offspring interactions in their communities and hold expectations about their own relationships derived in part from culturally shaped expectations.
Plea Tracking in the Durham County District Attorney’s Office
January 6, 2023
The purpose of this report is to highlight the insights from our first year that we can glean from plea tracking, describe the cases managed in the Durham Office, and draw attention to any emerging patterns in case characteristics and prosecutorial discretion.
State-Level Legal and Sociodemographic Correlates of Child Marriage Rates in the United States
January 5, 2023
Although there is a breadth of knowledge on child marriage in many low- and middle-income countries, little research and policy discussion exists surrounding child marriage within the United States. Using administrative data from several sources, this study examines how a range of different state-level variables, including political lean, academic performance, median household income, religiosity, population density, minimum age requirements and other state laws, such as parental and judicial consent, and median distance to an abortion clinic are related to variation in child marriage rates across states.
Predicting Child Aggression: The Role of Parent and Child Endorsement of Reactive Aggression Across 13 Cultural Groups in 9 Nations
Journal Articles |
Adolescence to Adulthood
Families and Parenting
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
December 24, 2022
Parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression both predict the emergence of child aggression, but they are rarely studied together and in longitudinal contexts. The present study does so by examining the unique predictive effects of parent and child endorsement of reactive aggression at age 8 on child aggression at age 9 in 1456 children from 13 cultural groups in 9 nations.
Gun violence among young adults with a juvenile crime record in North Carolina: Implications for firearm restrictions based on age and risk
September 30, 2022
The prevalence of arrests for crimes involving guns among young adults in North Carolina with a gun-disqualifying felony record acquired before age 18 suggests that the federal gun prohibitor conferred by a felony record is not highly effective as currently implemented in this population. From a risk-based perspective, these restrictions appear to be justified; better implementation and enforcement may improve their effectiveness.
Predictors of Problematic Adult Alcohol, Cannabis, and Other Substance Use: A Longitudinal Study of Two Samples
August 12, 2022
This study examined whether a key set of adolescent and early adulthood risk factors predicts problematic alcohol, cannabis, and other substance use in established adulthood. Externalizing behaviors and prior substance use in early adulthood were consistent predictors of problematic alcohol and cannabis misuse in established adulthood across samples.
Intergenerational effects of the Fast Track intervention on the home environment: A randomized control trial
July 27, 2022
This study examined whether the childhood intervention program called Fast Track improves family life into the second generation.
Adult Criminal Outcomes of Juvenile Justice Involvement.
March 10, 2022
Juvenile justice involvement was associated with increased risk of adult criminality, with residential services associated with highest risk. Juvenile justice involvement may catalyze rather than deter from adult offending.
The Intergenerational Transmission of Maladaptive Parenting and its Impact on Child Mental Health: Examining Cross-Cultural Mediating Pathways and Moderating Protective Factors
Journal Articles |
Adolescence to Adulthood
Families and Parenting
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
January 5, 2022
Using a sample of 1338 families from 12 cultural groups in 9 nations, we examined whether retrospectively remembered Generation 1 (G1) parent rejecting behaviors were passed to Generation 2 (G2 parents), whether such intergenerational transmission led to higher Generation 3 (G3 child) externalizing and internalizing behavior at age 13, and whether such intergenerational transmission could be interrupted by parent participation in parenting programs or family income increases of > 5%.
Pre-Pandemic Psychological and Behavioral Predictors of Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nine Countries
December 13, 2021
Across countries, adolescents’ internalizing problems pre-pandemic predicted increased internalizing during the pandemic, and poorer well-being pre-pandemic predicted increased externalizing and substance use during the pandemic.
Culture and Social Change in Mothers’ and Fathers’ Individualism, Collectivism and Parenting Attitudes
November 30, 2021
Historically, individualism vs. collectivism has been a main organizing framework for understanding cultural differences in family life. This study examines parents in nine countries to understand their individualism, collectivism and parenting attitudes. They found parenting attitudes are predicted by a range of sociodemographic factors.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on substance use among adults without children, parents, and adolescents
October 16, 2021
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol and illicit substance use among adults without children, parents, and adolescents was investigated through two studies with five samples from independent ongoing U.S. longitudinal studies.
Development of individuals’ own and perceptions of peers’ substance use from early adolescence to adulthood
September 1, 2021
This study evaluated how individuals’ own substance use and their perception of peers’ substance use predict each other across development from early adolescence to middle adulthood.
Lower neural value signaling in the prefrontal cortex is related to childhood family income and depressive symptomatology during adolescence
Journal Articles |
Adolescence to Adulthood
Families and Parenting
Poverty and Inequality
Social Emotional Health and Well-Being
April 1, 2021
Lower family income during childhood is related to increased rates of adolescent depression, though the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood.
Parenting Across Cultures from Childhood to Adolescence: Development in Nine Countries
February 25, 2021
Edited by Jennifer Lansford and Drew Rothenberg with Marc Bornstein, this book shares findings from a study of parents and children in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and the United States. Each chapter is authored by a contributor native to the country examined. Together, the chapters provide a global understanding of parenting across cultures.
Getting Tough? The Effects of Discretionary Principal Discipline on Student Outcomes
February 1, 2021
Nationwide, school principals are given wide discretion to use disciplinary tools like suspension and expulsion to create a safe learning environment.
Raising the bar for college admission: North Carolina’s increase in minimum math course requirements
July 1, 2019
Charles T. Clotfelter, Steven W. Hemelt, Helen F. Ladd Education Finance and Policy (2019) 14 (3): 492–521. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00258
Impact of a Neuroscience-Based Health Education Course on High School Students’ Health Knowledge, Beliefs, and Behaviors.
October 1, 2018
The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the potential of an innovative high school neuroscience-based health course for implementation feasibility and impact on student outcomes.
Predicting Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration From Late Adolescence to Young Adulthood
August 23, 2018
Saint-Eloi Cadely et al. found longitudinal patterns for the perpetration of both psychological and physical intimate partner violence (IPV), including actively and minimally aggressive patterns.
Multifaceted Aid for Low-Income Students and College Outcomes: Evidence From North Carolina
August 10, 2017
We study the evolution of a campus-based aid program for low-income students that began with grant-heavy financial aid and later added a suite of nonfinancial supports.
Evaluation of a Public Awareness Campaign to Prevent High School Dropout
June 29, 2016
Many advocacy organizations devote time and resources to increasing community awareness and educating the public in an effort to gain support for their issue.
Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress Report 3: A Comprehensive Review of SelfRegulation Interventions from Birth Through Young Adulthood
February 1, 2016
This is the third in a series of four inter-related reports titled Self-Regulation and Toxic Stress.
Substance Use and Abuse in Durham County 2014
February 3, 2014
According to the North Carolina (N.C.) Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services, approximately 18,000 adults and 1,000 children in Durham County abused or were addicted to illegal drugs, prescription medications, or alcohol in 2012(1). Substance abuse not only impacts the individual and his/her family, but also the community.
Mental Health Outreach Program (MHOP) Evaluation Report
January 1, 2012
This report summarizes preliminary findings associated with the MHOP program that began in Durham County in January of 2011.
America’s Promise Alliance: 10 Indicators of Academic Achievement and Youth Success
July 1, 2011
Approximately one quarter of U.S. students do not graduate from high school with their peers. Failing to complete high school severely limits opportunities for employment and future financial stability. High school dropouts earn lower wages through their lifetime and work for fewer years.1 The costs to society of high school dropouts are also high and…