Understanding how families, systems, and public policies impact the social, emotional, and cognitive development of adolescents and young adults is at the heart of much of CCFP’s work. Our researchers engage in longitudinal studies, partnerships with state and local agencies serving youth and their families, and develop and evaluate innovative programs and services to understand and support youth development.
This article advances the use of mixed methods in higher education research to better understand the racialized experiences of African American college students and demonstrate how Critical Race Mixed Methodology can be used to integrate quantitative and qualitative findings.
Vaping is one of the most common forms of substance use among adolescents. Social influences play a key role in the decision to use substances and frequency of use during adolescence, and vaping is no exception. Using a sample of 891 adolescents, we explored whether the frequency of vaping nicotine and the frequency of vaping marijuana at age 17 were related to concurrent reports of resistance to peer influence, perceptions of friends vaping, and perceptions of classmates vaping.
This book explores the transformative power of critical literacy in fostering youth engagement through university-community partnerships. It is based on a six-year study by The Literacy and Community Initiative (LCI) at North Carolina State University.
When adult men are made to feel gender-atypical, they often lash out with aggression, particularly when they are pressured (vs. autonomously motivated) to be gender-typical. This article examines the development of this phenomenon.
This research project will collect data from youth enrolled in universities across Ukraine during the winter of 2023. Data will include changes in adjustment, wellbeing, and optimism, along with substance use. Data will provide insights into how best to support the mental health of young people during a global crisis.
learn more about Risk and Resilience in Ukraine: Individual, Family, and Community Predictors of Adolescent and Young Adult AdjustmentThis project expands reach, builds capacity, and scales up evidence-based programs offering positive youth development and sexuality education to address health disparities in the most vulnerable areas across rural Eastern North Carolina.
learn more about Advancing Equity in Adolescent Health through Evidence-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention Programs and ServicesThis project aims to advance research on the relationship between economic well-being, wealth, adolescent functioning and mental health.
learn more about STEPS: Study of Teen Experiences that Promote SuccessBuilding on the ongoing Parenting Across Cultures longitudinal study that began in 2008, this project will continue to follow participants in their early to mid-twenties.
learn more about Childhood, Adolescence, and Covid-Related Risk and Protective Factors in the Development of Adjustment in Early Adulthood Across CulturesThis brief outlines the findings from “How adolescents’ lives were disrupted over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal investigation in 12 cultural groups in 9 nations from March 2020 to July 2022” in the journal Development and Psychopathology. The authors investigate the extent to which adolescents’ lives were disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the factors that caused these disruptions.
Youths who enter emerging adulthood with a background of familial relations grounded in positive parent-child interactions are better equipped to cope with transitional stressors, to voice effectively their opinions with parents, and to resist engaging in risky activities. The study reveals filial self-efficacy beliefs as central to the benefits conveyed to teens by parents in reducing their sexting behaviors.
Previous research shown that parental self-efficacy plays a protective role for children’s rule-breaking behaviours (i.e., parent-driven process), but rule-breaking also can reduce parents’ parental self-efficacy over-time (i.e., child-driven process). This study delves into the bidirectional longitudianl associations between parental self-efficacy and children’s rule-breaking behaviors.
This systematic review examined two research questions with 189 articles published from 2020-2022: (1) How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted families with adolescents, including broader family functioning, family relationship qualities, and parenting? and (2) How has the pandemic or pandemic-related stressors interacted with family functioning, family relationships, and parenting of adolescents to impact adolescent well-being and adjustment?