Research > PATHS
Paths Over Time and Across Generations Project
Founding Principal Investigator: Stuart T. Hauser, MD, PhD
Princpial Investigator: Judith A. Crowell, MD
Co-Investigators: Eric Dearing, Ph.D., Brian Gibbs, Ph.D., Christos Mantzoros, MD
Project Director: Dorothy E. Warner, Ph.D.
About
the Founding Principal Investigator
Dr. Stuart T. Hauser was both director and president of Judge Baker Children's Center from 1993 - 2004 and also worked as Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. After stepping down as President, Dr. Hauser continued in his role as principal investigator of Judge Baker’s Paths Over Time and Across Generations Project. Dr. Hauser passed away in August 2008.
Project Description
This longitudinal study, begun in 1978, examines paths to midlife adaptation, based on observations of participants and their families, beginning when they were adolescents. We are following a sample of 142 adults, now ages 37-42, who were first intensively studied with their families between the ages of 14 and 17. During the adolescent phase, our overarching aim to study adolescent psychosocial development (e. g., ego development, self-image, coping) and ways in which family processes influenced –and could be influenced by-- this development.
When the adolescent participants became young adults (age 25), we once again investigated their social and emotional development, locating 100% of our former adolescent sample and re-interviewing over 97% of them. We have found extensive continuities across this first 11-year span, particularly in domains such as ego development, family interaction styles, and representations of attachment relationships. Based on these findings, we have continued to follow the adult women and men as they move through the phases of adulthood.
We are currently considering long-term predictors of risk and resilience along the lines of (a) adolescent functioning, including progress in key developmental tasks of adolescence; (b) adolescent experiences within their families; and, (c) adult peer and close relationships. The outcomes we are now looking at are in several relevant domains: psychosocial adaptation; functioning in marital and parenting relationships; work satisfaction and trajectories; and, the functioning and well being of our participants' children, who range between ages of 12-18 months and 3-4 years.
Our measures and observations of each family are designed to make sure
that we will have information from the original participants and their parents
(in adolescence), peers (at age 25), and current partners and offspring.
This unique opportunity to investigate development across the lifespan and
across generations has been supported by the National Institute of Mental
Health (NIMH), National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD),
MacArthur Foundation, Weil Foundation, and the Harvard Milton Fund.
