Boys' Health and Development Project

Middle childhood and the transition into adolescence present unique challenges with the expansion of children's social and cognitive skills. This longitudinal study, which complements the Girls' Health and Development project, shed light on the lives of 200 African-American and White boys as they entered puberty, examining how physiological processes and relationships with parents and peers set boys on various trajectories leading to more or less positive adjustment during these turbulent years. Researchers from the Center have been following boys from fourth through seventh grades from integrated working- and middle-class communities. The data that this project yields helped fill a critical gap in our knowledge about the development of boys, whose behavior in adolescence has been the subject of much concern in recent years.

Funding Source: National Institute of Mental Health.

Contact: Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Ph.D.

Current Social Context of Education Projects

Completed Social Context of Education Projects