The Northwestern University Two-Generation Study of Parent and Child Human Capital Advancement

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Children; Parents
• Interventions: Behavioral: CareerAdvance®

• Registration Number: NCT02743039
• Lead Sponsor: Northwestern University

Brief Summary

The Northwestern University Two-Generation Child and Family Outcomes Study (NU2Gen) of the Community Action Project of Tulsa County's (CAP Tulsa's) CareerAdvance® program examines the effects of CareerAdvance® on parent and child human capital outcomes (e.g., child academic achievement, parent educational advancement and certification, and psychological and family functioning), and (2) explore mechanisms that might give rise to program effects (e.g., home language environment; coping, balance, and stress; and parent and academic and career identity).

Detailed Description

The Northwestern University Two-Generation Study (NU2Gen) of Parent and Child Human Capital Advancement is funded through Community Action Project of Tulsa County's (CAP Tulsa) Health Profession Opportunity Grant (HPOG II) from the Administration for Children and Families and through the HPOG II University Partnership grant. The federal awards support the implementation of CareerAdvance®, a workforce training and career employment program for parents living in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the surrounding communities, as well as our Northwestern-based research project.

CareerAdvance® provides education and training, career coaching, and other supportive services for parents while their children attend CAP Tulsa-run Head Start programs, other Tulsa-area public preschool programs, and Tulsa-area K-12 public schools. The explicit goal of the program is to promote the economic self-sufficiency and well-being of low-income families across generations.

The evaluation is composed of two parts: the Two-Generation Human Capital Outcomes Study and the Two-Generation Explanatory Mechanisms Study. Through parent surveys and parent and child administrative data we will examine the effects of CareerAdvance® on parent and child human capital outcomes (e.g., child academic achievement, parent educational advancement and certification, and psychological and family functioning). Using innovative measurement tools (e.g. Language Environment Analysis (LENA)) along with parent and child focus groups and interviews, we will also explore mechanisms that might give rise to program effects (e.g., home language environment; coping, balance, and stress; and academic and career identities). Participants will actively take part in the study for three years and we will collect child administrative data for study parents' children until they turn 18 years old or graduate high school, whichever occurs last. Current funding for NU2Gen is through September 2020.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2016-04
• Study First Submitted: 2016-04-07
• Study First Submitted QC: 2016-04-14
• Study First Posted: 2016-04-19
• Primary Completion: 2020-09
• Study Completion: 2020-09
• Status Verified: 2021-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2021-07-06
• Last Update Posted: 2021-07-07

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 478

Inclusion Criteria

• Applicants to CAP Tulsa's CareerAdvance® program under the HPOG II evaluation study, including participants who are randomly assigned not to participate in CareerAdvance® by the HPOG II evaluation study.

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Exclusion Criteria

• Not proficient in English

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
CareerAdvance®	CareerAdvance®	CareerAdvance® provides education, career coaching, and soft-skills training for parents while their children attend Head Start programs.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Parent's healthcare training certification	Years 1 and 2	We expect higher rates of healthcare training certification and credentialing
Child's attendance	Years 1 and 2	We expect higher rates of school attendance
Child's grade promotion	Years 1 and 2	We expect higher rates of grade promotion
Parent's employment	Year 2	We expect higher rates of employment
Parent's healthcare sector employment	Years 1 and 2	We expect higher rates of employment in the healthcare sector
Child's academic achievement	Year 2	We expect higher levels of academic achievement
Parent's income	Year 1	We expect lower income

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Routines	Year 2	We expect more stable routines in the home
Parent's depression	Year 2	We expect less depression; Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II; Beck, Steer, \& Brown, 1996)
Parent's optimism	Year 2	We expect increased optimism; Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R; Scheier, Carver, \& Bridges, 1994)
Parent's work-family balance	Year 2	We expect better work-family balance; Fragile Families Study; CAP Family Advancement Study (NU)
Parenting stress	Year 1	We expect stable or increased parenting stress; Aggravation in Parenting Questionnaire (APQ; Cooper et al., 2009); Fragile Families Study
Child adaptive skills	Year 2	We expect an increase in child adaptive skills; Social Skills Improvement System (SSIS-RS; Gresham \& Elliott, 2008)
Child emotional and behavior problems	Year 1	We expect stable or increased child behavior problems; Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL; Achenbach \& Rescorla, 2000)
Parent's social capital	Year 2	We expect higher social capital; Willingness to ask for/offer help (Adapted from the Boston Non-Profit Organizations Study survey; Tran, Graif, Jones, Small, \& Winship, 2013)
Parent's perceived stress	Year 1	We expect stable or increased perceived stress; Perceived Stress Scale (PSS; Cohen \& Williamson, 1988)
Time use	Year 2	We expect improved time use in the home; LENA Time Diary (Northwestern University, 2017)
Parent's hope/goal efficacy	Year 2	We expect higher levels of hope/goal efficacy; State Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1996)
Home language environment	Year 2	We expect an increase in positive home language environment factors (e.g., books, reading time, learning activities) and a decrease in negative home language environment factors (e.g., television, video games/computer time, phone); Language Environment Analysis (LENA) system

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Northwestern University; 🇺🇸 Evanston, Illinois, United States

Community Action Project of Tulsa County; 🇺🇸 Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States