Carolina Abecedarian Project (ABC) and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE), Age 21 Follow Up Study, 1993 - 2003 (ICPSR 32262)

Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)

Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection

Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

The Carolina Abecedarian (ABC) Project and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE) projects consist of two consecutive longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of early childhood educational intervention for children at high risk for developmental delays and school failure. Combined, the two studies test the hypothesis that child care, home visit, and home school resource interventions can enhance cognitive and academic outcomes for children at risk for school failure due to factors such as poverty, low maternal IQ, or low parental education. These studies provide the only experimental data regarding the efficacy of child care interventions that began during early infancy and lasted until the child entered kindergarten. In addition, the data allow for tests of the efficacy of intervention during the primary grades.

Study Design View help for Study Design

The Abecedarian Project is a prospective randomized trial with participants from low-income families either participating in the planned "treatment" groups or serving as untreated controls. Essentially, three educational treatments were provided: educational child care from six weeks to school entry, home visit from six weeks to school entry, and home school resource services during the child's first three years of school. They varied in terms of intensity and orientation. The child care treatment was essentially child-centered and offered the most intensive exposure to education. It involved the child receiving child care at the child development center from infancy until entry to kindergarten. The home visit and home school treatments were less intensive and were family-oriented, emphasizing the role of the parent as a change agent in the child's development. All have been followed from birth to young adulthood. The study recruited children born between 1972 and 1977. At entry to school, half of the children within each of the two randomized preschool groups were randomly assigned to receive a home school resource teacher program during the first three years of elementary school.

Children recruited for Project CARE (Carolina Approach to Responsive Education), however, were born between 1978 and 1980 and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: child care plus home visits, home visits only, or control. All Project CARE children assigned to either the child care plus home visit or home visit only groups also received the home school resource teacher treatment during the first three years of elementary school.

Sample View help for Sample

Subjects were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups for the original study.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Children at risk for school failure due to factors such as parents with less than a high school education, and families with very low incomes who lived in or around a small city in the Southeast United States, born between 1972 and 1977 (ABC), or 1978 and 1980 (CARE).

Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation

Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables

File 1: Parent Brief Symptom Inventory: Variables assessing the parent's level of stress in response to a variety of social/emotional/physical events.

File 2: Parent Everyday Stressors Index: Variables assessing level of stress associated with common daily problems.

File 3: Parent of a Young Adult Interview: Variables addressing a range of demographic, education/occupation/income, and social factors.

File 4: Parent Scale of Independent Living: Variables assessing the parent's capabilities for independent living.

File 5: Parent Interview - Persons Living with Subject: Variables gather demographic information on people living in the subject's household.

File 6: Parent Risk Taking Survey: Variables measuring risk-taking behaviors of the subject's parent.

File 7: Parent Taylor Life Events Inventory: Variables gathering information of major life events (e.g. educational milestones, marriage and family, employment, and health).

File 8: Parent What I Am Like: Variables gathering information on the parent's perceptions of themselves.

File 9: Subject Adult Nowicki-Strickland: Variables intended to assess the respondent's perception of their level of control over events in their life.

File 10: Subject Brief Symptom Inventory - ABC: Variables assessing the subject's level of stress in response to a variety of social/emotional/physical events.

File 11: Subject Interview - ABC: Variables addressing a range of demographic, education/occupation/income, and social factors.

File 12: Subject Scale of Independent Living: Variables assessing the subject's capabilities for independent living.

File 13: Subject Interview - Persons in Subject's Household: Variables gathering demographic information on people living in the subject's household.

File 14: Subject Phinney Ethnic Identity Interview: Variables intended to asses the subject's conceptualization of their own and their family's ethnic identity.

File 15: Subject Risk Taking Survey - ABC: Variables measuring the subject's risk-taking behaviors.

File 16: Subject Taylor Life Events Inventory: Variables gathering information of major life events (e.g. educational milestones, marriage and family, employment, and health).

File 17: Subject's Woodcock-Johnson: Variables testing intellectual ability, language skills, and academic achievement.

File 18: Subject What I Am Like: Variables gathering information on the subject's perceptions of themselves.

File 19: Subject Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised: Variables measuring the subject's intelligence.

File 20: Subject Brief Symptom Inventory - CARE: Variables assessing the subject's level of stress in response to a variety of social/emotional/physical events.

File 21: Subject Interview - CARE: Variables addressing a range of demographic, education/occupation/income, and social factors.

File 22: Subject Risk Taking Survey - CARE: Variables measuring the subject's risk-taking behaviors.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

For the project, 104 young adults out of the original 111 infants (93.7 percent) were assessed.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Participants were tested based on four different measurement scales: maternal measures, quality of the family environment, cognitive assessment, and academic achievement. The maternal measures include variables such as marital status, maternal and paternal age, education, and family socioeconomic status. Young adult follow-up sessions included structured interviews, the Hollingshead's Index of Social Status, and the Youth Risk Taking Survey from the Centers for Disease Control. The following is a list of all of the measures used in the study and their sources (if not included in download):

• Brief Symptom Inventory: http://www.pearsonclinical.com/education/products/100000450/brief-symptom-inventory-bsi-174.html
• Everyday Stressors Index: Hall, L. (1983). Social supports, everyday stressors, and maternal mental health. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Scale of Independent Living
• Risk Taking Survey
• Taylor Life Events Inventory: an adaptation for low-income families of Sarason's Life Experiences Survey: Sarason, I., Johnson, J., and Siegel, J. (1978). Assessing the Impact of Life Changes: Development of the Life Experiences Survey. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 46(5), 932-946.
• What I am Like Survey: Harter, S. (Feb 1982). The Perceived Competence Scale for Children Child Development, Vol. 53, No. 1.pp. 87-97.
• Nowicki-Strickland Scale: Nowicki, S., and Strickland, B.R. A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1973.
• Phinney Ethnic Identity Interview (Subject only): Phinney, J. S. (1992). The multigroup ethnic identity measure a new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of adolescent research, 7(2), 156-176.
• Woodcock Johnson tests of Achievement-Reading and Math Scores (Subject only): http://www.riversidepublishing.com/products/wjIIIComplete/index.html
• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Revised: http://www.pearsonclinical.com/psychology/products/100000392/wechsler-adult-intelligence-scalefourth-edition-wais-iv.html
• Structured Interviews

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2014-01-31

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