Iowa State’s Center for Family Research in Rural Mental Health is conducting the largest research project of African American families in the United States.

The project will study African American families living in smaller towns and cities, more specifically Des Moines and Waterloo. More than 400 families are participating in the study.

“There has been a lot of interest in the communities involved,” said Colleen Buescher, the study’s project manager.. “Many groups and individuals in these communities have endorsed the study.”

Professor Ron Simons, the project’s principal investigator of research related to youth’s emotional and behavioral problems, said the study will look at how families and communities influence family processes and child development.

“Past research on neighborhoods has focused almost exclusively on how large inner-city neighborhoods influence children,” Simons said. “There was a real need to look at the way neighborhoods influence families and young people living in smaller communities.”

The study targets families with children 10 and 11 years old because it is at these ages the children will soon experience the transition to their adolescent years.

Not only the children, but the children’s primary care giver, secondary care giver and 12- to 14-year-old siblings, if any, will be interviewed.

“We will be looking at what communities can do to foster family well-being,” Buescher said. After determining what communities can do, the researchers will return to the communities to share that information, Buescher said.

The families will be interviewed two times during two different years for the study.

“This research strategy is important because almost all previous research with African American families has occurred in large urban centers, and little is known about that portion of this population that lives in other geographic locations,” said Rand Conger, the study’s principal investigator and project director.

“Also important is the fact that this study focuses on the strengths of African American families that help young people avoid problems and promote competencies, such as school achievement and positive social relationships,” Conger said.

Field work for the study began in February with the first round of interviews expected to end in December.

The National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse are providing about $7 million of support for the research. Funding for the study has been provided for five years with the possibility of continued support.