Study of Children in Rural Poverty: Risk and Protective Mechanisms

(This study received initial funding from NCEDL, however it is being completed by Lynne Vernon-Feagans. For more information email her at lynnevf@email.unc.edu.)

Investigators: Martha Cox (Martha_Cox@mail.fpg.unc.edu) , Lynne Vernon-Feagans, Bob Pianta

Project staff: Barbara Goldman

Research questions/goals: To understand the ways in which community, (including faith-based institutions) employment, family poverty, family health/mental health, parent-child relationships, and individual differences in the children themselves interact over time to shape the unfolding development of competence in multiple domains (cognitive, language, literacy, social, emotional, relationship) in rural children during the first three years of life.

This research is designed to provide the information to devise effective interventions that will be tested in the next phase of the research program.

This project will initiate a significant investigation of the early development of children in rural, largely, poor areas of North Carolina and Pennsylvania. This research will be crucial for informing policy and practice in rural areas, especially those with high poverty rates and high minority populations.