MCA: A Three-Generation Study of Family Bereavement and Child Wellbeing

本项目研究父母和祖父母死亡对儿童的影响。随着COVID-19大流行在美国造成父母和祖父母死亡人数前所未有的激增，迫切需要严格的社会科学来概述这些童年经历的后果。该项目探讨丧亲之痛对儿童各种结果的影响，包括行为问题、身心健康以及认知和学业成绩。该项目的调查结果阐明了可以帮助儿童及其幸存的父母或照顾者度过死亡的服务和干预要点。此外，这个MCA项目促进了合作和培训机会，帮助妇女晋升到更高的学术级别。这个中期职业发展（MCA）项目有三个研究目标。首先，该项目考察了父母和祖父母死亡的经历以及随后的儿童福祉，重点关注多个发展阶段和领域。其次，该项目探讨与父母或祖父母死亡相关的不利因素是否集中在儿童人口的子集中。第三，该项目检查与死亡有关的任何不良后果是否可以通过其对尚存的父母或照料者的影响来解释。该项目通过对未来家庭和儿童福利研究（FFCWS）的分析来实现这些目标。FFCWS是一项基于人口的队列研究，在1998年至2000年期间，从美国20个城市招募了4,898名新生儿，其中大多数是未婚父母。儿童福利中心在儿童出生至15岁期间，对焦点儿童及其父母/照顾者进行了多达五次的重新访谈。这项研究的特点是，在童年时期失去父母和祖父母的受访者中，有显著比例。该项目帮助学者、决策者和公众了解丧亲之痛对儿童和家庭的健康、繁荣和福利的影响。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project examines the consequences of parental and grandparental death for children. With the COVID-19 Pandemic creating an unprecedented surge in parental and grandparental deaths in the United States, there is a pressing need for rigorous social science outlining the consequences of these childhood experiences. The project explores effects of family bereavement on a variety of outcomes for children, including behavioral problems, mental and physical health, and cognitive and academic outcomes. Findings from this project clarify the services and points of intervention that could help children and their surviving parent(s) or caregivers navigate a death. Further, this MCA project facilitates collaboration and training opportunities that help women to advance into higher academic ranks.This Mid-Career Advancement (MCA) project has three research goals. First, the project examines the experiences of parental and grandparental death and subsequent child wellbeing, focusing on multiple developmental stages and domains. Second, the project explores whether disadvantages associated with parental or grandparental death are concentrated among subsets of the child population. Third, the project examines if any adverse outcomes associated with a death are explained by its implications for the surviving parent(s) or caregivers. The project achieves these goals through the analysis of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a population-based cohort study that enrolled a sample of 4,898 newborns of mostly unmarried parents from 20 U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. The FFCWS has re-interviewed the focal children and their parents/caregivers as many as five times between the child’s birth through age 15. The study features notable percentages of respondents who were parentally and grandparentally bereaved during childhood. The project assists academics, decision-makers, and the public to understand the effects of bereavement on the health, prosperity, and welfare of children and families.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.