Children’s Developmental Outcomes in Cohabiting Unions
Union Transitions and Cohabitation among Older Adults
Creating New Spiritual Knowledge about Marriage, Pregnancy, and the Transition to Parenthood
Generations at Risk: A Follow-up of the Children of Serious Female Offenders
Spiritual Transformations and Desistance From Crime
Youthful Relationships and Sexual Risk-Taking
Ohio Department of Education Grant.
Do Adjudicated Adolescent Females Have a Healthy Transition to Adulthood?
Family Structure and Next Generation Parenting
Social Relationships, Identity, and Teen Sexuality.
Cohabitation and Marriage in America

Brown, Susan L. (PI). Children’s Developmental Outcomes in Cohabiting Unions. K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award, NICHD. 5 years
In this project, I use two secondary data sources (Add Health and SPD) and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews to extend prior research on the effects of family structure on child development to include those living in cohabiting families. I consider the significance of the family environment at the person, process, and context levels for the development of youth in cohabiting families, paying special attention to the complications presented by poverty and minority status.

Brown, Susan L. (PI), Lee, Gary R. Union Transitions and Cohabitation among Older Adults . R03, NIA. 2 years.
We use data from the 1998-2002 Health and Retirement Study to examine cohabitation among adults older than age 51. In addition to constructing a portrait of older cohabitors and describing how they compare to those in other marital statuses, we also estimate event history models predicting the formation and dissolution of cohabiting unions in older adulthood.

DeMaris, Alfred (Co-PI). Through a Sacred Lens: Creating New Spiritual Knowledge about Marriage, Pregnancy, and the Transition to Parenthood. Funded by the John Templeton Foundation 4 year.
This four-year project will collect four waves of data on approximately 160 couples expecting their first child. The goal is to examine the impact of the couple’s sanctification of the marriage and the pregnancy on post-partum family life via the intervening mechanisms of family investment, spiritual emotions, and spiritual resources.

Giordano, Peggy C. (PI), Longmore, Monica A., and Manning, Wendy D. Generations at Risk: A Follow-up of the Children of Serious Female Offenders. William T. Grant Foundation. 4 years
The goal of this project is to systematically investigate the parenting experiences of a sample of female and male serious offenders who were interviewed first in adolescence (1982) and later as young adults (1995/96) in connection with the Longitudinal Study of Serious Female Offenders. The primary aims of this study include determining the nature and extent of risk to children born to individuals who, during their adolescent years, evidenced serious, recurrent involvement in antisocial patterns of behavior, and assessing the relative impact of high levels of maternal and paternal deviance on the nature and extent of child risk.

Giordano, Peggy C. (PI), and Longmore, Monica A. Spiritual Transformations and Desistance From Crime. Metanexus Institute. 2 years
The goal of this project is to investigate the relationship between spiritual transformations and desistance from criminal activity. While focusing on spiritual transformations as an active and dynamic process involving an agentic social actor working to improve his/her life, the primary aim of this project is to qualitatively enumerate the mechanisms through which spiritual transformations provide a new sense of direction and a plan to move away from a life of crime. The study will focus on those spiritual and “worldly” circumstances that tend to be associated with the most consistent patterns of long term success, as well factors that serve to derail individuals from a pattern of forward progress.

Giordano, Peggy C. (PI), Longmore, Monica A., and Manning, Wendy D. Youthful Relationships and Sexual Risk-Taking. R01, NICHD. 5 years
The goal of this project is to investigate behaviors that put individuals at risk for exposure to sexually transmitted HIV. The primary aim of this project is two-fold: first, to identify the features of relationships that may influence variations in management of sexual risk deriving from the partner’s experiences and behaviors and one’s own involvement in risky sexual behavior. Second, to examine distinct individual trajectories of involvement in high-risk sexual behaviors. Findings from this project will lead to potential areas of social malleability in relationship choices and behaviors that can be incorporated into the design of more effective HIV prevention/intervention efforts.

Goza, Franklinand Dr. Eric Jones, School of Intervention Services, received one grant from the Ohio 7 months.
Department of Education f to study entry-year mentoring in Ohio ’s public schools. Goza and Jones received a second grant from the Ohio Department of Education to evaluate the Ohio Comprehensive School Reform Initiative.

Lanctôt, Nadine (PI) and Cernkovich, Stephen A (Co-PI).   Do Adjudicated Adolescent Females Have a Healthy Transition to Adulthood? An American and Canadian Longitudinal Study.  Canadian Institutes of Health Research.  One year.
The aim of this project is to examine a variety of behavioral, social, personal and interpersonal factors as they relate to the transition of adjudicated adolescent female delinquents to adulthood.  Three specific objectives structure this research: (1) Identification of the nature and extent of the difficulties faced by adjudicated females in their transition to adulthood; (2) Identification of the mechanisms underlying the persistence of these difficulties, as well as those that lead to desistance from problem behaviors; and (3) Attention to the renewal and amelioration of programs intended to rehabilitate adolescent females in the juvenile justice system, especially those that seek to prepare them for the impending transition to adulthood.  Analysis will be conducted using both American and Canadian samples that initially interviewed adjudicated female delinquents during their adolescence, and subsequently tracked and collected data from these respondents as they exited adolescence and entered young adulthood.

Lin, I-Fen (PI). Family Structure and Next Generation Parenting. R03, NICHD. 2 years
The project aims to examine whether growing up in a single-parent family has long-term consequences for the succeeding generations. Previous studies have shown that children who grow up with one biological parent receive less encouragement, supervision, and control than children who grow up with two biological parents. Some researchers argue that children model their own childrearing practices on their parents’ behaviors, while others argue that children compensate for their parents’ shortcomings by being more involved with their own children when they become parents. Yet whether growing up in a single-parent family undermines or supports parenting in the next generation is a question that remains unanswered. The project uses the 1968-1997 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the 1997 Child Development Supplement to identify four barriers and buffers that may mediate the influence of growing up in a single-parent family on offspring’s parenting behavior.

Longmore, Monica A. (PI), Peggy C. Giordano, and Wendy D. Manning..Social Relationships, Identity, and Teen Sexuality.1 year.    
Agency: Department of Health and Human Services, Adolescent Family Life Research Grant.   The goal of this project, building on the four-wave Toledo Adolescents’ Relationship Study is to add a qualitative and quantitative data collection module focusing on self-identities.  Aims include describing self-identities, reflected appraisals, and the role of heightened emotionality in adolescents’ involvement in high risk sexual behavior.

Manning, Wendy D. (PI), and Smock, Pamela J. (University of Michigan). Cohabitation and Marriage in America. R01, NICHD. 3 years.
This project focuses on the question, “What is the meaning of cohabitation?” Three research questions explore the meaning of cohabiting unions. These are: (1) how and why cohabiting unions begin; (2) parenting and partner roles in cohabiting unions; and (3) how and why cohabiting unions end. Qualitative data collection includes in-depth interviews and focus groups.