EGDS-School
EGDS-School includes the original 361 sets of children, adoptive parents, and birth parents. The University of Oregon works with The Pennsylvania State University and The University of California at Riverside to assist in nationwide data collection efforts. This study is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR), Office of the Director.
In this study, we interview participants as the children enter the early school-aged years and again during the child’s transition into middle school. At each phase, we continue to look at the connection between nature and nurture on children's behavioral development and look at such influences on children's regulatory systems by measuring salivary cortisol levels. During the early school-aged years, each birth parent is visited once, and each adoptive family is visited three times (ages 4½, 6, and 7 years). During middle school (age 11), birth parents complete an interview online, children participate in a child phone interview, and adoptive parents complete questionnaires. In addition to these assessments, we conduct brief check-ins with participants via telephone or survey assessments. School and teacher data are also collected for each child.
