How childhood and pandemic experiences shape young adults' wellbeing across cultures
Childhood, Adolescence, and Covid-Related Risk and Protective Factors in the Development of Adjustment in Early Adulthood Across Cultures
This project follows people from nine countries from childhood into their early twenties to see how family life, culture, and COVID-related events affect mental health, risky behaviors, and life choices.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Duke University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Durham, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11380387 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
I would be joining a long-term project that began when participants were 8 years old in 2008 and has followed the same people and their parents with annual interviews. The team has tracked 1,417 children and their mothers and fathers across nine countries and kept about 90% of the sample. Now that participants are in their early twenties, researchers interview them and their parents about family relationships, cultural values, decisions, risks, and opportunities, including experiences related to COVID. The goal is to understand how childhood and adolescent experiences combine with pandemic-related factors to shape adjustment in early adulthood across different cultures.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are people who were enrolled in the original Parenting Across Cultures cohort (recruited at age 8) and are now about 22–26 years old, or similar adults willing to share detailed childhood and pandemic experiences.
Not a fit: People who were not part of the original cohort, who are outside the roughly 22–26 age range, or who prefer not to discuss family or COVID experiences are unlikely to participate or benefit directly.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Results could inform programs and policies to better support young adults' mental health, reduce risky behaviors, and improve safety across diverse cultural settings.
How similar studies have performed: Other long-term cohort studies have linked childhood family environments to adult mental health and behavior, but this nine-country project is among the first to examine these links with cross-cultural breadth and COVID-related factors.
Where this research is happening
Durham, United States
- Duke University — Durham, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Lansford, Jennifer E — Duke University
- Study coordinator: Lansford, Jennifer E
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.