RSPH Faculty

Lives Across Time

National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NIAAA), NIH

1988-2011

This long-term longitudinal study involves the prospective assessment of 1175 adolescents (ages 14-15 years at Time 1) and their parents (hence over 3200 subjects) regarding the identification of risk and protective factors that predict time course issues and developmental pathways leading toward (or away from) substance use and mental health problems from adolescence through adulthood. During the current wave of data collection (Wave 7), broader measures of health-related behaviors and medical outcomes have been added to the battery to assess the role of substance use and mental health on these variables.

Healthy Passages: A Community-Based Longitudinal Study of Child and Adolescent Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1998-2014

This is a multi-site, longitudinal epidemiological study of 5,250 children in Alabama, Texas, and California designed to investigate risk and protective factors related to multiple health behaviors (e.g., tobacco use, violent and other injurious behaviors, alcohol and other substance use) via the biennial assessments of children  beginning in the fifth-grade and continuing until age 20. The sampling design includes an over-sampling of African-Americans and Hispanics, with 1,750 children from each of three racial/ethnic groups to be sampled. The findings from this study are designed to provide a platform to guide interventions informed by the multiplicity of influences that may impact health risk behaviors and their outcomes. The study has initiated its third wave of data collection. During his tenure at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dr. Windle was one of the original PIs on this project and has maintained involvement while at Emory.

Birmingham Youth Violence Study

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1999-2005 (ongoing support via NIDA K-award at UAB) 

This two-wave study examined youth violence and health-related issues (e.g., alcohol and other substance use, BMI) in the context of home, school and neighborhood with an aim toward the identification of determinants of dating violence and patterns of persistent aggression. Data were collected from 704 fifth-grade children at Wave 1 (76% African American) and a multi-source approach to data collection was used, including self-report, parent report, peer nominations, teacher ratings, anthropometric assessments, geo-coded data, and neuropsychological testing. Wave 3 data collection, with Dr. Sylvie Mrug at the University of Alabama at Birmingham as the PI, is ongoing and Dr. Windle continues to be involved in this research project.