U-M Gets $2.5 million to study pathways from childhood to adulthood

October 1, 2003
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ANN ARBOR—The National Science Foundation has awarded University of Michigan researchers $2.5 million over a five-year period to form the Center for the Analysis of Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

The Center will analyze data on more than 130,000 individuals from 20 large-scale, long-range research projects to answer key questions about successful development.

“Initially we will focus on finding out if middle childhood—the period between ages 5 and 12—is a pivotal period in development, as we think it may be,” said Pamela Davis-Kean, a U-M psychologist who will direct the new Center. “We will also look at what kinds of childhood influences matter the most, and how much personal characteristics such as temperament, intelligence and gender affect positive and negative outcomes and cross-generational similarities and differences.” L. Rowell Huesmann

Finding answers to these kinds of broad questions that are of interest to parents and teachers as well as research scientists depends on access to many large data sets that span, in some cases, almost four decades, according to ISR research scientist L. Rowell Huesmann, the principal investigator of the project. “Although the factors examined in any one project may be limited, by studying data from many projects we can examine a wide range of childhood influences,” Huesmann said.

U-M psychologists Jacquelynne Eccles and Eric Dubow, also at Bowling Green State University, are co-principal investigators, along with Davis-Kean. Jacquelynne Eccles

The Center will develop and use new statistical approaches to analyze the data from many different projects, including the ISR Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Survey and the Maryland Adolescent Development in Context Study. Studies from Canada, Finland and the United Kingdom are also included in the project.

“After several decades of productive yet fragmented research, it’s exciting to be able to join with other experts around the country and the world to integrate our analyses,” Davis-Kean said. “Our common goal is to understand what matters most in moving from childhood to adult success, and to let parents and educators know what they can do to improve the odds for success.”



Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is among the world’s oldest survey research organizations, and a world leader in the development and application of social science methodology. ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited studies in the nation, including the Survey of Consumer Attitudes, the National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the Institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China, and South Africa. Visit the ISR Web site at www.isr.umich.edu for more information. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world’s largest computerized social science data archive. www.isr.umich.edu