The past several years have been rewarding as we have had an opportunity to look back over the past 31 years and realize how much has happened in the lives of our respondents.
Recent Project Papers and Presentations
- A recent report on the positive influence of family factors promoting good mental health in adolescence was completed under contract for Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA Foundation. The report presents data that can be used by agencies and frontline workers who have contact with families and youth. Click here for a PDF of the report.
- We are embarking, as well on a new study covering the period from early childhood to adulthood that has the goal of identifying the critical positive and negative aspects of the family environment in influencing adult functioning. The unique information provided by our respondents and their families will be utilized in providing useful guidelines to aiding in promoting healthy development. The study is one of only four national projects funded by the Maternal and Child Health bureau and the only social work study.
- In October 2006, Helen Reinherz, SLS Project Director, and Abbie Frost, Associate Professor at the Simmons School of Social Work, presented a workshop at the School Social Work Conference of the NASW MA. The presentation, "Tracing Risk and Protective Factors from Pre-School to Adolescence: Implications for Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health and Alcohol Problems," was based on the work of the SLS.
- In March 2006 at the meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence in San Francisco, CA, SLS Research Assistant Professor, Jennifer Tanner, presented the paper, "Trajectories of Mental Health in a Community Sample from Ages 15 to 30." Paper authors are Jennifer Tanner, Ph.D., Stephanie Lanza, Ph.D., Helen Reinherz, Sc.D., and Julie Leis, B.A.