Economic Stress & Child Development Across 3 Generations

描述(申请人提供)：这份R01申请寻求为期五年的支持，以研究当前国家经济低迷时期的家庭风险和韧性。这项研究将集中在500多名30岁左右的成年人的社会和经济状况，他们从成年早期过渡到快速进入中年。这项研究的主要目标是阐明经济困难对他们及其家庭造成影响的过程，并加深对哪些个人和家庭最能抵御或最容易受到经济困难潜在负面影响的了解。为了实现这些目标，我们将在现有的对爱荷华州农村家庭的三代人研究的基础上，该研究始于20年前的1989年。家庭过渡项目(Ftp)是一项基于社区的小组研究，对象是500多名成年早期青少年(G2目标)、他们的近龄兄弟姐妹、他们的父母(G1)、他们的浪漫伴侣和他们的长子(G3)。Ftp最初是研究农村家庭对20世纪80年代美国农业经济严重衰退的反应(Conger&Elder，1994；Conger&Conger，2002)。最初研究中的G2年轻人现在30多岁了，有了自己的家庭；因此，我们又回到了原点，因为G2一代现在面临着类似的、甚至可能更严重的国家和地方经济衰退，就像他们的父母20年前面临的那样。为了利用这一独特的机会，在这个特定的历史时刻跟踪这些参与者，我们将收集G2、G2的S浪漫伴侣和G3在5年内的两个完整的数据。这一研究战略将使我们能够利用我们目前拥有的数据，以及收集我们需要的数据，来评估这次衰退对家庭动态和儿童适应的影响。在过去20年里，参与者在多个场合接受了评估，评估策略既是广泛的(即，涵盖个人和社会特征的多个领域)，也是密集的(即，采用多信息者方法，包括自我报告、其他家庭成员报告、教师报告、训练有素的观察员的评分、学校记录和公共记录)。通过将新数据与我们已经丰富的档案相结合，我们将处于独特的地位，可以评估早期的特征和生活经历如何缓和当前经济危机的影响。鉴于这项研究的长期历史，我们将能够评估先前存在的人格特征、亲密关系中的优势或困难、职业成就或失败以及早期适应问题对应对当前危机的影响程度。这一系列研究与NIH关于健康差距的优先事项是一致的，NIH试图理解1)为什么社会和经济上处于不利地位的成年人和儿童在身体、情感和行为问题上面临更高的风险(Berkman&Kawachi，2000；Bradley&Corwyn，2002；Haas，2006；McLeod&Shanahan，1996；Oake&Rossi，2003)和2)如何利用这种理解来减少这种差异。 公共卫生相关性：澄清社会、经济和个人对儿童和青少年发展的影响相互交织，有可能带来巨大的公共健康益处，特别是在美国和世界各地目前正在经历的那种经济危机时期。美国国立卫生研究院在其战略计划中高度重视健康差距的研究，这是一种国际上观察到的趋势，即更多的社会和经济弱势群体遭受高于平均水平的身体、情感和行为问题。目前这项研究的目标是通过调查在当前美国经济低迷期间促进能力发展或加剧情绪或行为问题的社会环境和个人过程，提高对健康差距的认识。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This R01 application seeks five years of support to study family risk and resilience during the current national economic downturn. This research will focus on the social and economic circumstances of a cohort of over 500 adults in their mid to late 30s who have transitioned from the early adult years and are rapidly moving to middle age. The primary goals of the study are to shed light on the processes through which economic hardship affects them and their families and to increase understanding of which individuals and families are either most resilient or most vulnerable to the potentially negative effects of economic hardship. To accomplish these goals, we will build on an existing 3-generation study of rural Iowa families that began 20 years ago in 1989. The Family Transitions Project (FTP) is a community-based panel study of over 500 early adolescents grown to adulthood (G2 targets), their close-aged siblings, their parents (G1), their romantic partners, and their oldest biological child (G3). The FTP originally began as a study of rural family response to the severe recession in the agricultural economy in the U.S. during the 1980s (Conger & Elder, 1994; Conger & Conger, 2002). The G2 youths from the original study are now in their 30s with families of their own; therefore, we are coming full circle as the G2 generation now faces a similar, perhaps even a more severe recession in the national and local economy as faced by their parents 20 years ago. To capitalize on the unique opportunity to follow these participants at this particular point in history, we will collect two full waves of data from G2, G2's romantic partner, and G3 over a 5-year period. This research strategy will allow us to use the data we currently have, as well as to collect the data we need, to evaluate the effects of this downturn on family dynamics and child adjustment. For the past 20 years participants have been assessed on multiple occasions using a measurement strategy that is both extensive (i.e., covers multiple domains of personal and social characteristics) and intensive (i.e., employs a multi-informant approach that includes self-reports, other family member reports, teacher reports, ratings by trained observers, school records, and public records). By combining new data with our already rich archive, we will be uniquely positioned to evaluate how earlier characteristics and life experiences temper the influence of current economic crises. Given the long history of this study, we will be able to evaluate the degree to which pre-existing personality traits, strengths or difficulties in close relationships, occupational accomplishments or failures, and earlier adjustment problems influence responses to the current crisis. This line of research is consistent with NIH priorities regarding health disparities, which seeks to understand 1) why socially and economically disadvantaged adults and children are at increased risk for physical, emotional, and behavioral problems (Berkman & Kawachi, 2000; Bradley & Corwyn, 2002; Haas, 2006; McLeod & Shanahan, 1996; Oakes & Rossi, 2003) and 2) how such understanding can be used to reduce such disparities. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Clarification of the intertwining of social, economic, and personal influences on child and adolescent development has the potential for enormous public health benefits, especially during times of economic crisis of the type currently being experienced in the U.S. and across the world. NIH has placed a high priority in its strategic plan on the study of health disparities, the internationally observed trend for more socially and economically disadvantaged people to suffer above average rates of physical, emotional, and behavioral problems. The goal of the current study is to improve knowledge regarding health disparities by investigating socio-environmental and personal processes that either promote competent development or exacerbate emotional or behavioral problems during the current economic downturn in the U.S.