Girls' Health and Development Project

In collaboration with pediatricians and endocrinologists at Columbia University, researchers at the Center are studying 200 African-American and White girls as they reach adolescence to see how physiological processes and relationships with parents and peers set girls on various trajectories leading to more or less positive adjustment. The study follows girls from third through sixth grades from integrated working- and middle-class communities. Recent media interest in the effects of early puberty among girls has been intense, highlighting the need for more substantive knowledge, both on the part of researchers and practitioners, about the ways in which the social, behavioral, and physiological aspects of puberty influence girls' early development and overall well-being.

Funding Sources: NICHD; William T. Grant Foundation

Contact: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Ph.D.

Current Social Context of Education Projects

Completed Social Context of Education Projects