This study directed by Dr. Wendy Kliewer focuses on stressors in the lives of youth living in impoverished areas of the city of Richmond., and how these stressors are linked to adjustment. We are particularly interested in exposure to violence – experiencing, witnessing, or hearing about violence. We are studying a number of aspects of the lives of these families, including the children’s coping resources, parent/guardian and family resources, and child and parent/guardian adjustment. This study is built on a model of risk and resilience, with attention to risk factors for adjustment difficulties, and individual and family-level protective factors. Core assumptions underlying the study include:

• Chronic and acute stressors place children at risk for negative mental and physical health outcomes. These stressors may be part of the child’s neighborhood, family, or school environment, or may be self generated.
• Not at children are at equal risk for experiencing negative health outcomes in response to stressors. Individual- and family-level risk and protective factors heighten or attenuate risk, respectively.
• Protective factors are particularly important to study, and are present at the individual (child or parent), family, and neighborhood levels
• Physiological responses to stress have been ignored for the most part in studies of violence exposure, but can help us understand why some youth are more vulnerable to adjustment difficulties than others. We collect saliva samples as part of Project COPE, and test them for the presence of stress hormones like cortisol and alpha amylase.
• Generative studies such as this one can help us to identify the most promising avenues for intervention with families.

We are studying two cohorts of youth – 5th and 8th graders and their maternal caregivers – and are following them annually for 4 assessments. By studying two age groups of youth, we can track youth as they begin to develop adjustment problems, as well as monitor the progression of adjustment difficulties as youth transition into middle school and high school. As of Fall, 2006 we are in our second wave of interviews. Three hundred sixty one families enrolled in Project COPE and completed initial interviews.