Integrating human development research and intervention for America's children: The Michigan State University model

Abstract

Across America, coalitions involving private, nonprofit agencies, advocacy groups, governmental units, academic institutions, and communities are forming in order to prevent or diminish the actualization of risk behaviors among children and families. This article describes ane such collaboration, involving the Institute for Children, Youth, and Families (ICYF) at Michigan State University and other sectors of the communities of Michigan. The participation of the ICYF in this coalition is predicated on the vision of the role of a land-grant institution as using its scholarly abilities (for knowledge generation, transmission, and application) to serve the people of its state. We discuss the land-grant philosophy and the developmental contextual theory of human ecology and developmental that is associated with these institutions' colleges of home economics (and their evolutionary heirs, i.e., colleges of human ecology, human development, human environmental sciences, and many others). The use of this theory for building ICYF programs of research and intervention is discussed, and an overview of these programs is presented. In addition, some of the challenges and problems in advancing these programs are noted. We conclude that a multidisciplinary, multiprofessional, and community-collaborative synthesis of research, policies, and programs—one focusing on the human diversity and contextual variation present in different communities—is necessary to advance understanding of, and service to, the needs of children and families.