Reports, Research & Policy

By Catherine Pearson, The New York Times, June 15, 2022 A new study suggests that spending time with therapy dogs may help lower children’s stress levels even more than relaxation exercises. An unexpected benefit of adopting Annie, my family’s 40-pound, floppy-eared mutt, is the soothing effect she has had on my children. My sons often come home from a long, packed day at school and flop down on the floor next to Annie’s bed, lying quietly while she licks their fingers and cheeks. Or they’ll...

Fathers’ relationships—especially their relationships with coparents and romantic partners—can affect their own well-being and the quality of their involvement with their children. Using lessons from the Coparenting and Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education for Dads (CHaRMED) study, Child Trends’ new brief for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation identifies common barriers that fatherhood programs face when addressing healthy relationships with fathers and provides...

Fathers, children, and families alike benefit from fathers having healthy coparenting and romantic relationships. Child Trends’ new brief for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation provides fatherhood programs with strategies, policy suggestions, and additional considerations for working with American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) fathers. The brief’s authors outline strategies within three distinct areas of program development and implementation that fatherhood programs can use...

By Keyna Franklin and Shakira Paige, Rise Magazine, August 5, 2022 Parents need resources to support LGBTQ children and youth in being affirmed, safe and celebrated in their homes, schools and communities. In our report, An Unavoidable System , Rise recommends expanding access to community-based programs that center the needs of families with LGBTQ children — without family policing system involvement. Here, Rise talks with Caitlin Ryan , Director of the Family Acceptance Project at the...

The early and foundational relationships that babies and toddlers experience with their parents shape the health and well-being of two generations. This brief from the Center for the Study of Social Policy highlights opportunities to promote early relational health with policy change and investments, including with existing programs, pandemic funding, and pending legislation in Congress. Please click here to access the brief: Policy Change to Promote Early Relational Health .

New research from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families shows that 37 percent of lower-income Latino adults (defined here as those whose incomes are less than 200% of the federal poverty line) living with children reported either frequent anxiety or depressive symptoms during Fall 2021 and Winter 2022—rates that are statistically higher than those among their higher-income peers. Additionally, authors Yiyu Chen and María A. Ramos-Olazagasti find that, regardless of...

By Manica F. Ramos, Renee Ryberg, Jessica Warren, Claire Wernstedt-Lynch, Michael Martinez, Child Trends, June 29, 2022 Young parenting students (ages 18–25) are highly motivated to pursue a college education to improve not just their own well-being, but also their children’s . However, young parenting students face many hurdles in navigating their pursuit of higher education, especially as they juggle school with their many other responsibilities—all while they themselves are still...

By Lisa Kim and Elizabeth Karberg, Child Trends, June 16, 2022 Fathers’ role within families has gradually evolved from traditional family breadwinner to that of more full and equal coparent involved in all aspects of caregiving. Research has shown that positive father-child involvement leads to better outcomes for children and families , and a critical component of improving fathers’ involvement with their children is supporting their coparenting and romantic or intimate relationship s . In...

A new brief from the National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families shows that over one third of Latino parents have experienced a mental health disorder at some point in their lives—a lower rate than among non-Hispanic parents. To help Latino parents cope with mental health disorders, researchers suggest that the mental health field provide culturally informed, responsive, and sensitive care that recognizes the diversity of the Latino community. Researchers analyzed data from...

by Jade McClain, New York University, April 18, 2022 Research by Steinhardt’s Natalie Brito suggests that infants whose mothers received paid family leave showed greater brain activity in their first three months In the fall of 2021, Democrats pushed to establish a national paid leave program under the Build Back Better Act, an initiative that would guarantee paid family and sick leave to US workers. The bill faltered in the Senate before eventually being shelved when it failed to garner...

By Matt Bruenig, Cavan Images/Getty Images, The New York Times, April 9, 2022 In some European countries, parents can choose between sending their children to heavily subsidized day care or receiving a stipend from the government to take care of them at home. In most parts of America, parents of babies and toddlers have neither option. The United States is a global outlier among developed countries for its lack of government support for child care. That’s why it’s notable that New York State...

By K.C. Compton, Early Learning Nation, March 3, 2022 Babies and small children might not immediately come to mind when we think about people dealing with chronic stress. But they are—millions of them. Most recently, of course, COVID-19 has taken its toll, as families at all income levels have been hit with one stressor after another, from job loss to child care catastrophes to the loss of social time and even of loved ones and family members. It’s a lot for anyone to deal with. Equally...