MCA: A Three-Generation Study of Family Bereavement and Child Wellbeing

This project examines the consequences of parental and grandparental death for children. With the COVID-19 Pandemic creating an unprecedented surge in parental and grandparental deaths in the United States, there is a pressing need for rigorous social science outlining the consequences of these childhood experiences. The project explores effects of family bereavement on a variety of outcomes for children, including behavioral problems, mental and physical health, and cognitive and academic outcomes. Findings from this project clarify the services and points of intervention that could help children and their surviving parent(s) or caregivers navigate a death. Further, this MCA project facilitates collaboration and training opportunities that help women to advance into higher academic ranks. This Mid-Career Advancement (MCA) project has three research goals. First, the project examines the experiences of parental and grandparental death and subsequent child wellbeing, focusing on multiple developmental stages and domains. Second, the project explores whether disadvantages associated with parental or grandparental death are concentrated among subsets of the child population. Third, the project examines if any adverse outcomes associated with a death are explained by its implications for the surviving parent(s) or caregivers. The project achieves these goals through the analysis of the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), a population-based cohort study that enrolled a sample of 4,898 newborns of mostly unmarried parents from 20 U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. The FFCWS has re-interviewed the focal children and their parents/caregivers as many as five times between the child's birth through age 15. The study features notable percentages of respondents who were parentally and grandparentally bereaved during childhood. The project assists academics, decision-makers, and the public to understand the effects of bereavement on the health, prosperity, and welfare of children and families. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.