Center Events

The Parenting in Context Initiative: Advancing the Integration of Extension and Translational Research Activities Statewide
Rachel Dunifon & Kimberly Kopko, BCTR

Thursday, December 13, 2012
12:00pm
Beebe Hall, 2nd floor conference room

The Parenting in Context Project integrates research and extension activities in the area of parenting, provides university-level support and assistance to parenting educators in their work with families across New York State, and facilitates the development of new methods of promoting positive parenting behaviors among a wide range of caregivers and across a variety of contexts.

Since 2003 the Project has introduced new research- and evidence-based curricula, offered multiple professional development opportunities, and brought together Cornell faculty and Cornell Cooperative Extension educators. Recent activities focus on integrating parenting education efforts with translational and youth development efforts, thereby having the potential to impact a greater number of families and youth.

This presentation will provide an overview of the Parenting In Context Project, including available resources, statewide date collection efforts, integration of parent education and translational research, and discussion of areas for potential collaboration between parent education and youth development programming and initiatives.

Rachel Dunifon is the Associate Director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. She received her PhD in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University in 1999. She joined Cornell in 2001, after completing a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. Rachel’s research focuses on the well-being of children, and how public policies and family living arrangements influence child well-being. She has a particular interest in the role of parenting behaviors in accounting for the associations between policies, family structure, and child well-being. In one recent article, she examined whether parental behaviors account for the influence of single-parenthood and cohabitation on children. In another, she tested whether mothers’ movement from welfare to work influences parenting. Dr. Dunifon is also examining how welfare reform has affected parental monitoring of children, warmth toward children, and the provision of cognitively stimulating activities for children; and how the neighborhoods in which children live influence their parents’ behaviors.

Kimberly Kopko is an Affiliate in the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research. She received her Ph.D. in Child Development from the Department of Human Development at Cornell University in May 2005 and joined the Department of Policy Analysis & Management in 2007 after spending a year as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Ithaca College. Her research and extension interests examine parenting and child development outcomes. Specific research and extension interests include: developmental outcomes of affluent youth; socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development; developmental issues related to divorce and custody; the impact of children's extracurricular activity involvement on families; and parenting and adolescent development.