Minneapolis, MN – The National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) has conferred its organization’s prestigious Reuben Hill Award to (from left in photo) Drs. Thomas J. Schofield of the University of California-Davis (UC-Davis); Rand D. Conger of UC-Davis; Katherine Conger of UC-Davis; Tricia M. Neppl of Iowa State University; M. Brent Donnellan of Michigan State University; and (not pictured) Monica J. Martin of UC-Davis.

The Reuben Hill Award is sponsored by NCFR’s Research and Theory Section. It is given annually in recognition of an outstanding article that combines theory and research methodology in the analysis and interpretation of a significant family issue. The award will be presented at the November 2012 annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations in Phoenix, AZ. 

The award-winning article, Intergenerational Transmission of Adaptive Functioning: A Test of the Interactionist Model of SES and Human Development, was published last year in the scholarly journal, Child Development (Volume 82-33-47). This exquisitely designed study examines the viability of the Interactionist Model of Socioeconomic Status and Human Development for explaining child outcomes. The model integrates the social causation perspective (i.e. the argument that socioeconomic circumstances influence well-being) and social selection perspective (i.e. the argument that individual characteristics impact both socioeconomic conditions and future personal and relational wellbeing) to propose that individuals and their social contexts reciprocally shape each other over time.

Through careful analyses of a longitudinal dataset, the authors demonstrated support for the model:  Individuals’ competence, measured during adolescence, predicted their socioeconomic status as adults as well as the material and emotional quality of the home environment they constructed for their child. In turn, these social circumstances were related to their child’s well-being, even after controlling for the parent’s adolescent competence. This research significantly advances our understanding of the interplay among socioeconomic status, family environments, and individual development, and suggests multiple pathways for improving child outcomes

The National Council on Family Relations is the nation’s premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families. NCFR has a membership of over 3600 family researchers, practitioners and educators.  For more information on the National Council on Family Relations or its scholarly publications, contact NCFR at 1-888-781-9331 or visit its website at www.ncfr.org.