The families included in the study have at least one child in fifth grade. That’s one of the more exciting early
findings from the study .”The intensive interviewing process costs
approximately $1.5 million
per year and is funded through the National Institute of Mental Health,
the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on
Alcohol and Alcohol abuse. “Our goal,” Simons says, “is to identify how family and community processes combine to influence children as they grow up and start their own families. |
”Researchers interviewed families every other year and use the interim year to process data. An early finding in the study illustrated some of the negative effects of iscrimination.Researchers also studied how families dealt with discrimination when it did occur. Simons says some kids are taught that they will never get
a fair break. Others are taught to expect problems but that they can be“There is great variability regarding what children learn about race
relations. We are just in the process of looking at how these ideas
affect children’s psychological development,” Simons says.The research also focuses on how relationships in the community
influence children. Throughout the study, Simons found truth in the
phrase, “It takes a village to raise a child.” When there were strong
social ties among adults living in a community, researchers found fewer
conduct and delinquency problems with children. Researchers refer to the phenomenon as “collective socialization.”“Kids tend to behave themselves when they are out in public because they may run into someone they know,” Simons says. |