Last updated January 2004
We have successfully completed the age 30 Interview phase of the Simmons Longitudinal Study, which began in March 2002 and concluded in June 2003. We are proud to have interviewed 377 of our study members (approximately 93% of our original sample), 326 of their mothers or another close relative, and 170 of their spouses or partners! It was quite a busy time, catching up with all of our respondents and learning their unique thoughts and perspectives on turning 30 and becoming "true adults." Despite the fact that we have known our study members since kindergarten, we continue to learn something unique from each study member every time we talk to them- this time was no different. Through the age 30 interviews, we learned about 30-year-olds' relationships with their spouses and partners, their parents, and their own children. We also talked to participants about positive and negative events they have experienced throughout their lives, in order to better understand what impacts 30-year-olds across their life spans. This information will guide the SLS and other research teams toward important issues that need to be addressed in order to support and enhance mental health and development during the transition to adulthood.
Translating information into a form we can use for papers and presentations requires several steps. During the summer of 2002, the initial stages of data processing began. Each interview was carefully checked and reviewed to ensure accuracy and completeness. Next, the information from each interview was entered into a large database, an electronic version of the interview, comparable to that of the original printed interview. To guarantee strict confidentiality, participants' names were not entered into this database. Each interview is identified solely by an identification number, allowing us to sort and manage all of the data while keeping our study members' identities anonymous. Very recently, we have moved into the data management phase of the project - sorting through the data to find statistically significant patterns and trends.
The following is a brief sample of the most current findings on our group:
By age 30...
- 90% of our adult respondents reported working full-time
- 13% reported being currently enrolled in school or a training program
- 10% reported being stay-at-home parents
- 44% reported owning their own home
At age 26, study members spoke about how important their spouses and partners were in their lives, so we were extremely pleased so many spouses and partners agreed to participate in the age 30 interviews. Intimate relationships have become even more central in respondents lives at age 30.
- 75% reported being involved in an intimate relationship
- 47% reported being married
- 11% reported being engaged
- 36% reported making the transition to parenthood
We were happy to find that study members reported being more satisfied with their lives at age 30 than they were at age 26. They also reported increased satisfaction in their relationships with their parents; many reported feeling as though their parent-child relationships had developed into mutual friendships. Check back in the late spring for more findings!
Professional Development
- We are extremely proud to report that Dr. Helen Reinherz, Principal Investigator of the SLS, was honored in the book Celebrating Social Work: Faces and Voices of the Formative Years, edited by Elizabeth Wichers DuMez. Dr. Reinherz, along with fifty-one others selected for their noteworthy contributions to the social work profession, traveled to Washington D.C. in October 2003 to attend the book signing.
- In December 2003, a journal article from the SLS staff, titled Childhood and adolescent predictors of major depression in the transition to adulthood, was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. This article identifies childhood and adolescent familial and behavioral-emotional factors predicting depression during the transition to adulthood. Family violence, family composition, internalizing problems during adolescence, and low family cohesion were the most important predictors. To date, the SLS has published over 50 articles in major peer-reviewed journals (see Publication List).
- Since October 2003, the SLS Staff have attended several national meetings and conferences. The SLS Staff attended the NIMH/NIDA Meeting on Intergenerational Research held in Washington, D.C. This meeting was particularly relevant because the SLS is an intergenerational research project.
- Additionally, Dr. Jennifer Tanner, SLS Research Associate, presented research titled, A Lifespan Developmental System Perspective on a Critical Period: Emerging Adulthood at the first ever Conference on Emerging Adulthood. This conference, hosted by Dr. Jeffrey Arnett and Dr. Jennifer Tanner at the Harvard Murray Research Center in Cambridge, MA., focused on a critical period of the lifespan, from ages 18-25. This period, termed "emerging adulthood" is conceptualized as the age of identity exploration, the age of instability, the self-focused age, the age of feeling in-between, and the age of possibilities.
Our Research Goals
The SLS staff is currently working on conducting analyses, looking for patterns and significant characteristics of age 30 adults, and writing professional papers based on these data. Our aims over the next few years are to further study the differences between people who continue to have mental health problems and those who recover from them, and to examine protective factors that lead to positive, healthy outcomes in those at risk for behavioral and emotional problems.