Research

This project will pilot a daily diary study of youth in Ukraine and Poland to develop a state-of-the art assessment tool for measuring within-person changes in coping and adjustment related to the war in Ukraine.

Project Description The North Carolina Community Schools Coalition aims to improve the academic, mental, and physical health of North Carolina students through the development of Full-Service Community Schools across the state. Full-Service Community Schools prioritize partnerships between schools and the community to promote the overall success and well-being of children and families. The community schools model…

This project looks at the impact of rental housing sales on children’s residential mobility, school switches, and school performance.

Project Description In the U.S., food insecurity (FI), or the inconsistent access to food of the quantity or quality needed to fuel a healthy life, is an important source of socioeconomic and racial inequality in youth outcomes. Decades of research finds that FI undermines youths’ physical, socioemotional, and cognitive development, and their academic outcomes as…

Project Description This study builds on the Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS), a study originating at Duke, and now currently following participants in the Great Smoky Mounties Study of Rural Aging (GSMS-RA). This study, Midlife Health Inequities in the Rural South (HIRS) aims to create a new consortium of samples for the study of midlife…

This 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.

This project aims to advance research on the relationship between economic well-being, wealth, adolescent functioning and mental health.

Project Description Durham Choice is a partnership between the Durham Housing Authority (DHA) and the City of Durham to expand affordable housing opportunities in Durham and ensure that low-income residents have the opportunity to live in high quality housing in great neighborhoods. The focus of Durham Choice is on the redevelopment of two aging public…

This study examines how net worth poverty – or household’s whose wealth levels fall below one-quarter of the federal poverty line – is associated with children’s cognitive and behavioral development. Most children who are net worth poor are not income poor, meaning that these economically vulnerable group of children have been conventionally overlooked in conversations about poverty.

Project Description Safety net policies are intended to provide some level of basic income support and economic security to eligible families, in turn improving developmental outcomes and life course trajectories for children. Yet, despite high rates of poverty, Latinx families are less likely than other groups to utilize these benefits. Project Goals The team will…

Project goal is to design, develop, and test an online professional development program called Bridging English Language Learning and Academics (BELLA) for improving teacher and student outcomes for working with English Learners (ELs).

Project Description Compared to adolescents or adults in mid-life, young adults (aged 22-26) are at higher risk of death and disease from a variety of causes, most of which are preventable, including mental health problems, substance use, sexually transmitted infections, homicides, and motor vehicle accidents. Mental health and substance use disorders alone account for approximately…

The Durham Navigation Study is a randomized control trial to evaluate the impact of Community Navigation on outcomes for young children and their families.

Study of children’s and adolescents’ trajectories of mental health, immunization, and primary healthcare utilization in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic. The research is being conducted in India, where one-sixth of the world’s population lives.

Project Description CCFP researchers have partnered with colleagues at The Hunt Institute and Child Trends on multiple projects for North Carolina’s Preschool Development Grant, within the North Carolina Division of Child Development and Early Education The Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG) is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration…

Project to augment the longitudinal Great Smoky Mountains Study (GSMS) to create a national data resource, the Great Smoky Mountains Study of Rural Aging (GSMS-RA), for the study of early determinants of the aging experience in a rural context. The GSMS began collecting data on children, now participants are entering their 40s.

The purpose of this project is to support the development and evaluation of new evidence-based plea bargaining policies and practices in the Durham District Attorney’s Office.

Local social service agencies and health care providers routinely make decisions regarding a child’s risk for maltreatment. Yet, providers have limited information to guide their decisions and rarely receive feedback regarding the children’s long-term outcomes.

Baby’s First Years is a pathbreaking study of the causal impact of monthly, unconditional cash gifts to low-income mothers and their children in the first three years of the child’s life. The cash gifts are funded through charitable foundations. The study will identify whether reducing poverty can affect early childhood development and the family processes that support children’s development.

Evaluation of the Substance use Treatment and Access to Resources and Supports (STARS) program for pregnant women who have a substance use issue and babies who have been exposed to substances.

This project seeks to understand whether, for whom, and how the effects of successful early childhood school readiness interventions are sustained across a child’s development.

The Infant-Toddler Trauma-Informed Care (ITTI Care) Project leverages the existing early childhood education workforce support system to expand and strengthen trauma-informed knowledge and practice within the communities they serve.

This project is a state-wide randomized controlled study of Family Centered Treatment. The project is implemented in partnership with the Family Centered Treatment Foundation (FCTF), a nonprofit organization serving over 60 sites across 10 U.S. states. FCTF provides licensing, training, and oversight of the Family Centered Treatment (FCT) model to human service organizations.

Project Description The National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families (Center) is a research hub to generate evidence and support programs and policy to better serve low-income Hispanic children and families. Areas of research focus include poverty reduction and economic self-sufficiency; family stability; and early care and education. A key part of the Center’s mission…

The North Carolina Resilience and Learning Project is a partnership with the Public School Forum of North Carolina to promote and support trauma-informed schools across the state. The project team works closely with districts and schools to provide professional learning and ongoing coaching to meet school-specific needs and goals. Our work aims to create systems-level change by shifting the culture and mindset of an entire school so that staff begin to see a child’s behavior in the context of their life experiences, in consideration of possible trauma history or stress response system triggers.

This project is an evaluation of Benchmarks’ Partnering for Excellence (PFE), a model that seeks to improve the well-being of children and families in contact with the child welfare system and reduce the need for higher end behavioral services through a more trauma-informed community, which can result in reduces in behavioral healthcare expenditures.

Project Description The Durham Children’s Initiative (DCI) (formerly East Durham Children’s Initiative) is a place-based, nonprofit organization that supports children and families from cradle to college or career. Established in 2010, DCI’s vision is that all children in Durham graduate from high school ready for college or career. To achieve this vision, DCI provides children…

Building 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.