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Funding Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse
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Years of Funding: 2007-2012
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Investigators: Daniel Shaw, PI; Tom Dishion, site PI; Melvin Wilson, site PI; Erin Ingoldsby, JeeWon Cheong, Frances Gardner
The Early Steps Monitoring Project used the Early Steps Multisite sample of 731 families to examine extra-familial contexts at ages 7.5 to 10.5 (e.g., school, after-school care, and neighborhood settings), focusing on the relation of parental involvement in these outside settings with child problem behavior. Specifically, we addressed: 1) associations between the quality of school environments, after-school care, and neighborhoods with the emergence of CP during the early school-age period; 2) the continuity of early parental involvement in the toddler and preschool period and later parental involvement and monitoring in extra-familial contexts in the early school-age years; 3) moderating effects of parental involvement in schools, after-care, and the neighborhood on children’s CP; and 4) effects of a parenting intervention on parental involvement in school, after-care, and neighborhood contexts and on children’s subsequent CP. Thus, the study filled a much-needed void on associations between extra-familial contexts and risk for CP during the early school-age years. Equally critical, the study provided data on the potential moderating influence of involved parenting, its malleability for families facing multiple adversities, and whether family-based interventions can make a difference for children at risk for CP and drug use.