African American Family Strengths Project (William Turner) This study investigates the role that family protective factors play in the prevention of substance abuse among African American Adolescents. The overall purpose of the research is to uncover the relationship that exists between adolescent substance abuse and family, school, and individual experiences among African-American adolescents and their families. The specific aims are: (1) to examine more closely the  epidemiology of drug use and abuse within a cohort of  African-American students using a prospective longitudinal design;  and (2) to relate individual level longitudinal data with data at the family level collected over a five year period in order to triangulate on the multiple predictors of drug use and abuse among  African-American adolescents.

Couple Experiences of Sleeping Together Over the Life Cycle (Paul Rosenblatt)  This is an intensive, qualitative interview study of couple experiences of sleeping together, from first learning how to share a bed through various challenges that emerge over the life cycle (for example, changes in physical health, changes in body size, menopause, onset of snoring).  A book in preparation outlines the many complexities and rewards of couple bed sharing and what couple bed sharing reveals about human needs, the complexities of couple life, culture, and life in modern America.

Decision Making Integral to Relationship Transitions in Families (Kathy Rettig) One purpose of this study is to provide factual information for policy makers concerning Minnesota court orders establishing child support for children of divorced and unmarried parents. The second purpose is to cooperate with other groups in making the information available for attorneys, judges, referees, mediators, court services personnel, educational leaders, and the public. The study is examining the consequences of these support orders for meeting the financial needs of children, while fitting within the financial abilities of their parents. In addition, the increase in joint physical custody cases in the last decade raises questions about whether or not the child support orders follow the formulas of the legislated state guidelines or the precedent of case law, and which one of these formulas could provide the most income for children. The family living arrangements of children with unmarried parents are being analyzed by family support eco-maps that provide complex social and financial information on one-page visual diagrams.

End of Life Care in African American Families (William Turner) In this study we attempted to understand the African American caregiving experience in its multiple contexts. This research is based on in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups with African American family caregivers from various regions of the United States during a stressful time in their family development--caregiving at the end-of-life--and the grieving during the aftermath. The findings highlight the importance of hearing from African American families to gain an understanding of what services, including family therapy and other psychotherapy, they will need during this process. This study examines the ways in which African American family networks are mobilized to meet the caregiving demands when a family member in need of care experiences a sudden change in health status.

Engaging Parents Through Age-Paced Newsletters (Jodi Dworkin) This project involves a national workgroup that is compiling and developing age-paced newsletters for parents (prenatal through adolescence). The newsletters will be distributed by both traditional methods as well as on-line.

Financing Long Term Care and Later Life Financial Security:  A Family Decision Making Perspective (Marlene Stum) This project studies how families address the financial risks of financing long term care by identifying and examining decision making contexts, processes, and outcomes. This includes: a) examining the relative significance and contribution of factors within and outside the family system on financing decisions and behaviors, and b) gaining in-depth insight into individual and couple-level perceptions of decision making contexts, processes, and outcomes.  Findings provide a basis for improving private and public decision-making regarding financing long-term care.

Healthy Youth Experimentation (Jodi Dworkin)  This is a study of adolescent experimentation that works to understand healthy, functional experimentation both from the perspective of youth and from the perspective of parents. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are utilized to understand the implications of experimentation for youth and for the family.

High School Financial Planning Curriculum Program Evaluation (Sharon Danes) This project evaluates the effectiveness of the National Endowment for Financial Education’s High School Financial Planning Program, which provides teens with a greater understanding of and ability to manage their personal finances in the areas of goal setting, budgeting, and saving.  The evaluation project will compare students’ knowledge before and after completing the program, determine student financial behavior three months after completing the program, and investigate patterns of teachers’ use of the program.

A Longitudinal Study of Rural Communities and Rural Low-Income Families (Jean Bauer) The overall goal of this project is to increase understanding of forces and opportunities that affect rural places and the people who live there.  Existing panel data sets from the Rural Families Speak Project and a created community database to study the interrelationships among rural communities, low-income rural families, and policies are analyzed

Minnesota / Texas Adoption Research Project (Hal Grotevant) This is a longitudinal, multi-site project aimed at understanding the experiences of adoptive kinship networks having different levels of openness in their relationships - some of the families have confidential adoptions, meaning that there is basically no contact between the adoptive family and the child's birth family; others have mediated adoptions, in which information is shared via a third party (usually a staff member at the adoption agency); yet others have fully disclosed open adoption, in which birth family and adoptive family members communicate directly with each other. Within each type of adoption, there is tremendous variation in the amount and frequency of contact and in who is involved in the contact. This study is in collaboration with Dr. Ruth McRoy, of the University of Texas at Austin, Susan Ayers-Lopez, University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Gretchen Wrobel, of Bethel College (St. Paul), and Dr. Deborah Lewis Fravel, of Indiana University. 

National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health / Add Health (Hal Grotevant) This study examines the links among adolescents' interpersonal relationships, social contexts, and mental health outcomes. This study is in collaboration with Dr. Brent Miller of Utah State University and Dr. Xitao Fan of the University of Virginia.

Parenting College Students (Jodi Dworkin) Development of on-line modules to support parents of college students in their parenting role.  This project is in collaboration with Marj Savage, Director of the Parent Program at the University of Minnesota.