Building Strong Families (BSF) Project Data Collection, 2005-2008, United States

The Building Strong Families (BSF) project examined the effectiveness of programs designed to improve child well-being and strengthen the relationships of low-income couples through relationship skills education. It surveyed couples 15 months and 36 months after having applied to and been accepted into a Building Stronger Families (BSF) program at one of eight locations offering services to unwed couples expecting, or having recently had a baby. Major topics included family structure, parental involvement with children, relationships, personal and parental well-being, utilization of services such as workshops to help their relationship and parenting skills, paternity and child support, and family self-sufficiency. Respondents were asked for information on recently born children and relationship status, how much time they spent with their children, their level of satisfaction with their current relationship, substance use, if they had attended relationship and parental counseling, whether they were legally required to provide child support, employment, and family background. Additional information was asked about domestic violence and child abuse, legal trouble, past sexual history, and child development. The 36-month data collection effort also included direct assessments of parenting and child development. The quality of the parenting relationship was assessed for both mothers and fathers and was based on a semi-structured play activity, "the two-bag task." This interaction was videotaped and later coded by trained assessors on multiple dimensions of parenting. During assessments with mothers, the focal child's language development was also assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Demographic data includes race, education level, age, income, and marital status. The data collection is comprised of seven parts. Part 1: the BSF Eligibility and Baseline Survey Data file; Part 2: the BSF 15-Month Follow-up Survey Data file; Part 3: the program participation data file; Part 4: the BSF 15-month follow-up analysis file; Part 5: the BSF 36-Month Follow-up Survey Data file; Part 6: the mother-child in-home assessment; and Part 7: the BSF 36-Month Follow-up analysis file.

《构建稳固家庭》（BSF）项目深入探讨了旨在提升儿童福祉并加强低收入夫妇之间关系的项目效果。该项目在八个提供未婚准父母或近期生育婴儿夫妇服务地点之一的BSF项目申请并获批准后，于15个月和36个月对夫妇进行了调查。主要议题包括家庭结构、父母与子女的互动、人际关系、个人及父母的福祉、利用如工作坊等辅助关系和育儿技能的服务、父权与子女抚养权以及家庭自给自足。受访者被要求提供有关近期出生子女和关系状况的信息，他们与子女共度的时间、对当前关系的满意度、物质使用情况，以及是否接受过关系和育儿咨询、是否依法需提供子女抚养费、就业状况和家庭背景。此外，还收集了有关家庭暴力、儿童虐待、法律纠纷、过去的性行为史以及儿童发展的额外信息。36个月的数据收集工作还包括对育儿和儿童发展的直接评估。父母关系的质量评估针对母亲和父亲进行，基于一种半结构化的游戏活动——“双袋任务”。这种互动被录像，并由经过培训的评估者在多个育儿维度上进行编码。在与母亲的评估过程中，还使用皮博迪图片词汇测试对焦点儿童的言语发展进行评估。人口统计数据包括种族、教育水平、年龄、收入和婚姻状况。数据收集由七个部分组成。第一部分：BSF资格和基线调查数据文件；第二部分：BSF 15个月随访调查数据文件；第三部分：项目参与数据文件；第四部分：BSF 15个月随访分析文件；第五部分：BSF 36个月随访调查数据文件；第六部分：母亲与子女居家评估；第七部分：BSF 36个月随访分析文件。