TIES STUDY

TIES Study: Tucson Interpersonal and Educational Success study

The TIES study is focused on Latinx youth success, specifically how their cultural assets, influenced and supported by their social relationships, can protect against the impacts of discrimination and subsequently assist in academic success. This study aims to identify multiple profiles of cultural assets in order to explore patterns of development and understand the risk and protective factors of these cultural assets. Studying both social and cultural dynamics within various relationship systems (i.e., family members, peer networks, romantic partners, teachers) promotes the development of these cultural assets and resources. The study sample includes 800 adolescents from four schools, primarily Latinx, in 6th and 9th grade. These students will be assessed annually for two years. We are currently planning data collection for Spring of 2022. The project is led by Drs. Ha (ASU, PI), Hernández (UC Davis, Co-PI), Kornienko (GMU, Co-PI), and Rogers, (BYU, Co-PI), and funded by The Spencer Foundation through a Racial Equity Special Research Grant.

Principal Investigator: Thao Ha

Co-Investigators: Olga Kornienko (George Mason University), Adam Rogers (Brigham young University), and Katharine H. Zeiders (University of Arizona)

Funding: Arizona State University

TAS STUDY

TAS Study: Teens And Screens study

The TAS study is an ongoing pilot study (started in Fall 2021), looking at the experiences of teens online, and how they engage with their romantic partners through text messages, social media, and other online platforms. We are particularly interested in studying adolescent experiences of digital dating abuse, and utilizing screenshot methodology to capture abusive digital dating experiences, such as monitoring, controlling, and coercive behavior. TAS is a dyadic daily diary study, where couples complete short measures each day for 21 days. The project is led by Dr. Thao Ha, as well as graduate students Olivia Maras and Selena Quiroz. 

PAL STUDY

PAL Study: Project Alliance study

The PAL study participants included 998 adolescents and their families, recruited in sixth grade from three middle schools in an ethnically diverse metropolitan community in the northwest region of the United States. These participants formed a community-based sample in that the schools involved in this study were representative of middle schools in this community and were not part of a high-risk neighborhood. This project included a randomized intervention component following the Family Check-Up model (Dishion & Kavanagh, 2003). Youths were thus randomly assigned at the individual level to either the control group (498 youth) or the intervention group (500 youth) in the spring of sixth grade. Approximately 80% of youth were retained across the study span. During middle school (Waves 1 through 3), student self-report surveys, peer nominations, teacher ratings, and school counselor ratings were collected in the school context. Student self-report surveys and teacher ratings were administered in the high school setting at Wave 6, and parents also filled out a questionnaire that they mailed back to our research office. Questionnaires to be completed by participants at Wave 9, when participants were on average 23 years old, were sent directly to their homes and were returned to our research office by mail.

TAR STUDY

TAR Study: Technology And Relationships study

The TAR study began in April 2020, at the start of the pandemic, among young adults and their romantic partners. The study aims to understand how technology and social media use are related to romantic relationship quality and maintenance, as well as mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aim to identify the various ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted college students’ romantic relationships over time, as well as investigate their daily relationship experiences through daily diaries. The couples involved, 290 in total, first completed a baseline survey, then 91 couples were enrolled in a second phase of the study. The second phase of the study consisted of randomly assigned conditions, including an online survey assessed 6 weeks after their baseline survey was completed, or a 21 day daily diary study and then an online survey assessed 3 weeks after they completed the daily diaries. The project is led by Drs. Thao Ha (PI) and Masumi Iida, (Co-I, Masumi.Iida@asu.edu), as well as by graduate student Selena Quiroz, MS (selena.quiroz@asu.edu), and funded by Ha start-up funds and a Quiroz Catalyst Award.

ASPIRE STUDY

(Adolescents, Schools, Peers, and Interpersonal Relationships)

The aim of the ASPIRE study was to identify the affective and neurocognitive characteristics of adolescent social relationships that impact academic success and wellbeing. We assessed the impact of family, peer, and romantic relationships on academic engagement. This is important because social relationships can help teens navigate the path to school and career success, but they can also pose challenges, and at times, hinder engagement in school. We partnered with two local high schools and collected data from 99 dating adolescent couples. This sample consisted of 42% Hispanic/Latino, 42% White, and 16% African-American, Asian American, Native American teens. These adolescent couples participated in a laboratory study at Arizona State University that included observations of conflict discussions, survey assessments, dual-acquisition EEG while playing an interactive computer game, and salivary stress physiology assessments. Participants were also tracked longitudinally for 12-weeks using mobile ecological momentary assessments. Principal Investigator: Thao Ha, Graduate students: Adam Rogers, Frank Poulsen, Charlie Champion, Katie Panza, Funding: T. Denny Sanford School of Family and Child Dynamics

Principal Investigator: Thao Ha

Graduate students: Adam Rogers, Frank Poulsen, Charlie Champion, Katie Panza

Funding: T. Denny Sanford School of Family and Child Dynamics

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMICS AND YOUNG ADULT DRUG USE AND ABUSE STUDY

The Relationship Dynamics study examines how alcohol use and drug use and abuse affect the formation and quality of young adult intimate relationships. This longitudinal research builds on existing data that involves a multiethnic sample of 999 youth and families assessed at youth age 11-12, 12-13, 13-14, 14-15, 16-17, 18-19, 22-23, and 23-24 years. Approximately 400 committed couples are interviewed, involved in videotaped interactions, and participate in momentary assessments for 1 year. Analyses will focus on understanding stability and change in alcohol use and drug use and abuse in early adulthood relative to changing relationships and activity lifestyles, in the context of developmental trajectories of problem behavior from early adolescence through adulthood. The study will inform the design of the Relationship Check-up and other interventions for use in a variety of service contexts-such as postsecondary education, social services, and the military- to support young adults navigation of complex issues of lifestyle and partner selection as they form families and long-term committed relationships.

Principal Investigator: Thao Ha

Co-I: Mark Van Ryzin (Oregon Research Institute), Jenn Yun Tein (ASU)

Funding: National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; R01 AA022071)