OSLC Projects

Intervention Studies

OSLC intervention studies have concentrated on improving the strengths and decreasing the problems of youth ages 3 through 18 years, including studies tailored to children with conduct problems or delinquency, and children who have been abused or neglected by their parents.

During the early years, the group developed a version of parent management training (PMT), an intervention strategy that has been quite influential in the fields of clinical psychology and prevention science.

Many prevention interventions developed at OSLC include a focus on testing the effect of parent management training with specific populations, such as with recently divorced mothers, with step families, with the siblings of at risk youth, with incarcerated fathers and mothers, with mothers and fathers involved in community corrections, with at risk girls involved in the child welfare system, and with youth at risk for substance use.

CURRENT INTERVENTION STUDIES

Early Experience, Stress Neurobiology, and Prevention Science

A study of the effects of stressful early environments on the developing brain and interventions that can remediate these effects.

Healthy Family Project

An investigation of parent-management training efficacy with a sample from a rural Oregon county population receiving court-ordered supervision.

Kids in Transition to School (KITS)

A trial of a preventive intervention to enhance psychosocial and academic school readiness in foster children as they enter school.

Kids in Transition to School - Early Childhood Education Program (KARES)

A trial of a preventive intervention to enhance psychosocial and academic school readiness in children with developmental disabilities as they enter kindergarten.

The Latino Youth and Family Empowerment Project - II

A study of the delivery and a test of the adapted version of OSLC’s Parent Management Training to Latino families.

Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers

Follow-up during young adulthood of participants in a school-based randomized preventive intervention trial.

The Middle School Success Project

A study of the effectiveness of providing enhanced services for pre-adolescent girls in foster care.

The Parent Child Study

A test of the impact of parent management training on children of incarcerated parents.

Preventing Behavior and Health Problems for Foster Teens

Testing the efficacy of an intervention designed to strengthen the parenting skills of foster parents and to increase social skills related to preventing health-risking behaviors for youth in foster homes.

Developmental Studies

OSLC developmental studies contribute to the understanding of family, peer, and other influences on long-term developmental patterns of behavior for youth, including such areas as delinquency, substance use, depression, sexual risk behavior, social competency, domestic violence, and the breakdown of romantic relationships. This work currently spans infancy to early adulthood and has been expanded to include biological as well as social and emotional factors.

The longest running developmental study at OSLC, the Oregon Youth Study (OYS), began in 1983 and ended in 2007. OYS was extended several years ago to follow the couple relationships of participants, as well as three generations of family members. Other recent projects work in a variety of local, rural, urban, national, and international communities and include an emphasis on understudied populations. We have developed preventive interventions in concert with Native American tribes, with Latino populations in Oregon, with rural communities, and with practitioners nationwide in Norway.

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTAL STUDIES

Adolescent Latino Acculturation Study

How do Latino families who have immigrated to the U.S. adapt to life in this country?

Couples

A life-span perspective of young men’s romantic partner selection.

Early Growth and Development Study: Phase I

A nationwide study of the relationship between heredity and family environment on child development.

Early Growth and Development Study: Phase II

A nationwide study on understanding the relationship between heredity, the prenatal environment, and family environment in child development.

Three Generational Study

A study of the parenting practices of young parents, and the association of the father's parenting style to that of his own parents; and and examination of child characteristics such as temperament, attachment, behavior problems and cognitive ability.

Other types of Research

Center for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Child Welfare System

Scientists and national experts integrate knowledge to help fill the gaps in drug abuse prevention research, practice, and policy.

Complete List of Current Research

Click here to view all of our CURRENT research

Complete List of Past Research

Click here to view all of our PAST research