School of Social Work

Michael Kelly, PhD is the principal investigator. Besides preparing MSW students for expanded roles in public child welfare, the program is evaluating the impact of the training on students as they move back into the workforce. Students in the off-campus programs in south east, north west, and north central Missouri also participate. Funds are awarded on an annual basis through the Missouri Department of Social Services and originate in the US Department of Health and Human Services.

A multi-state collaborative team was recently awarded $1.2 Million by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children's Bureau to fund a five year project, Child Welfare Training: Curriculum Development and Evaluation for Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education. The project team includes Extension Specialists who are members of the National Extension Relationship and Marriage Education Network (NERMEN; www.nermen.org) and from the University of Missouri (David Schramm and Kim Allen, Lead Principal Investigators; Kim Anderson, School of Social Work, Co-PI), University of Georgia (Ted Futris), Iowa State University (Anthony Santiago), North Carolina State University (Andrew Behnke), University of Arkansas (Wally Goddard and James Marshall), Auburn University (Francesca Adler-Baeder), Kansas State University (Charlotte Shoup Olsen), and University of Illinois (Angela Wiley). The project will involve developing, implementing, and evaluating an experientially-based healthy relationship and marriage education 16-week curriculum as well as in-person and distance education trainings for child welfare professionals, graduate students and other professionals working with or preparing to work with adults and families. This curriculum will address healthy marriage and relationship skills for populations underserved in the general population and overrepresented in the child welfare system. Ultimately the project will yield a research and evidence based national training resource and curriculum that will promote the development of healthy relationships and marriages across the country. For more information about the project and other relationship and marriage enrichment resources from Cooperative Extension, visit www.nermen.org.

Angela Curl, PhD, is the Principal Investigator of a research study to examine whether retirement predicts an increased short-term or long-term risk of heart problems for married couples. The John A. Hartford Foundation has funded ($100,000 through the Hartford Faculty Scholars program) this research study. Retirement may alter lifestyles in ways that are associated with increased cardiovascular risk (e.g., less physical activity). The impact of retirement may also be more negative for some individuals than others, based on social stratification factors such as gender or race. Longitudinal data (1992-2004) from the Health and Retirement Study (N=1,546 married couples) and multilevel modeling are being employed for this research study.

Angela Curl, PhD, and Rui Yao, PhD, are Co-Principal Investigators of a study that is testing whether financial risk tolerance is impacted by recent stock market returns. Financial risk tolerance plays an essential role in determining household investment behavior, which, in turn, directly affects growth of household wealth. Households with very low risk tolerance are unlikely to invest in stocks. This choice shields them from investment losses in down markets, but also prevents them from realizing gains in up markets. Households with excessively high risk tolerance, in contrast, are apt to lose a sizable portion of their wealth in down markets. Neither extreme position facilitates wealth accumulation. Longitudinal data (1992-2006) from the Health and Retirement Study (N=6,955) and multilevel modeling are being employed for this research study, which is funded by the MU Margaret W. Mangel Faculty Research Catalyst Fund.

Mansoo Yu, PhD is the Principal Investigator of a research project to examine 1) prevalence rates of cigarette smoking transitions and different types of tobacco use (cigarettes, menthol cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, cigars, pipes, and polytobacco), and 2) moderating roles of positive variables on the associations between negative variables, and smoking transitions and the different types of tobacco use using a nationally representative sample of American adolescents in grades 6-12 (N=27,038). In addition, this project will examine how these prevalence rates and moderations differ by gender and age groups across six race/ethnicity groups. Eliminating health disparities among different segments is one of the key goals for Healthy People 2020. Thus, findings may be utilized as the empirical basis for tobacco control programs for adolescent smokers. This study is funded by the University of Missouri System Research Board and the Faculty Development Project Award.