UM SOM: Division of Growth and Nutrition

Three Generation Project

Program Description

The following study has concluded data collection and is no longer hiring.  We hold a monthly writing group meeting for this project.

Adolescent parenthood has attracted national attention, and the Three Generation Project is examining how young mothers have transitioned to parenthood and how their children have transitioned to school. The goal of this project is to examine how patterns of family and personal resources identified during the first two years of parenting influence young mothers and their children at age 7.

181 first-time, adolescent mothers of healthy full-term infants were recruited following delivery in urban hospitals between 1997 and 1999. Half of the participants had a long-term intervention with a mentor over the first year of the infant’s life. The goal of the intervention was to promote adolescent and infant development, parenting, and family processes in three generations (mother, child, and grandmother of the child). We interviewed mothers, fathers, and grandmothers. The intervention was successful in delaying second births as well as promoting the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations that over the first four to six months babies receive only breast milk or formula and not solid foods.

120 mothers and children (66% of the original sample) were successfully interviewed between June 2005 and May 2007. We are currently analyzing these data to identify factors that can be used to inform policy and practice to promote successful transitions to adulthood and school for young mothers and their children.

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