RISE Initiative
Featured projects
PIs: Katherine Nelson-Coffey (ASU) and Helena Rutherford (Yale University); Co-I: Kristin Mickelson
The transition to parenthood—a time rife with stress and adjustment—triggers changes to social life, which may lead parents to feel lonely and less socially connected. We propose that changes in social connectedness—the extent to which people feel close and connected to people in their lives—during the transition to parenthood are critically linked to parent and child health and well-being. To test these hypotheses, we are conducting a longitudinal study of 240 expectant parents from pregnancy through the early postpartum period, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Specifically, we are examining how changes in social connectedness during this transition are associated with development of parents' postpartum distress and emotional well-being, birth outcomes, parenting behaviors, and infant development at ages 2- and 4-months.
Positive family supports: Communities and resilience in education
Sarah Lindstrom Johnson (PI); Anne Mauricio and Jenn Yun-Tein (Collaborators)
Positive Family Support: Communities and Resilience in Education (PFS CARE) draws on a strengths-based, trauma-informed and culturally-responsive approach to promote family-school engagement. The PFS CARE program follows MTSS (PBIS), assists in the creation of a family-friendly school climate, and is adapted to the unique ecology of each school to support students, families, and school staff.
Bully Blocker
(Deborah Hall & Yasin Silva): BullyBlocker (funded by NSF) not only identifies threats, it combines that information with risk factors (also called states of vulnerability) that have been shown to increase the probability of bullying, such as whether a person has recently moved schools, their socioeconomic status or their race. The app calculates the probability that an adolescent is being bullied based on keywords and risk factors, then alerts the app user — who most likely would be a parent or guardian, helping them to be aware of what is happening in their child's life.
Understanding resilience factors during the COVID-19 pandemic
(Faculty: Kristin Mickelson, Mary Burleson, Thao Ha, Deborah Hall, Masumi Iida, Sarah Lindstrom Johnson, Ashley Randall, Nicole Roberts; Students: Bailey Braunstein, Maggie O’Brien): This group is interested in understanding resilience factors during the COVID-19 pandemic. An initial study of 1,010 nationally representative US adults was conducted in late April 2020 to understand how individuals are engaging social distancing practices, as well as well-being during stay-at-home guidelines. Specifically, we are applying the PERMA model of well-being to understand how individuals can thrive during these unprecedented times. We currently have 7 manuscripts in preparation or under review from this initial study and plan to apply for an ISSR grant to conduct a follow-up with this sample.
