Student researchers partner with Minneapolis parenting program Since September psychology major Eva Pesch '09 has been making weekly trips from St. Olaf to Roosevelt/Wellstone High School in Minneapolis to observe, research and videotape the interactions between teen mothers and their children at an in-school daycare program. With the help of Professor of Psychology and Department Chair Dana Gross, St. Olaf students have been working with TAPPP since 2002. At its core, this school-based program offers services for teen moms at various high schools throughout the city. It encourages the development of healthy relationships for its participants, provides public health services, and ultimately gives young mothers a chance to finish their education while raising a child. In her visits to Roosevelt/Wellstone, Pesch observes the interactions between teen mothers and their children who are participating in TAPPP at an in-school daycare. She videotapes her subjects during times of free play and shared book reading to study the effects of a mother's interaction with her child on the child's verbal development. What she's found in the process of videotaping all 25 mother-child pairs in the TAPPP program and analyzing four of those pairs in a case study is that interactions between mothers and children have been enhanced as their participation in the program has progressed. "The mother I studied who had been in the program for the longest time seemed to have developed the strongest parenting skills," Pesch says. She explored the results of her research in a senior distinction paper, and she also presented her findings at the Minnesota Undergraduate Psychology Conference at the College of Saint Benedict April 18. "Community-based research has enabled me to more fully understand both the issues and the people I'm researching on a personal level," Pesch says. "It is a much more effective way to understand complex social issues than simply reading about them in books or research articles." Without intervention, notes Gross, teen mothers are less likely than older mothers to speak or respond to their infants, and they often have an immature or inaccurate understanding of their child's development and age-specific needs. Comprehensive school-based services have been shown to produce positive outcomes for adolescent parents and their children. TAPPP teaches parenting skills and gives adolescent parents feedback and guidance to help them become more sensitive and responsive, encouraging their young child's learning in a positive and affirming context. Ultimately, the benefits for both sides have proved worthwhile. St. Olaf students gain the experience of community-based research while providing a service to TAPPP. The program's leaders gain valuable visual aids to assist in guiding young mothers in the care of their children, while the girls themselves receive helpful feedback on how they can be successful parents. Adolescent Parenting and Parent-Child Communication.
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of this research project. She's been transferring the tapes Pesch has made into DVDs for the Minneapolis Teenage Pregnancy and Parenting Program (TAPPP), the program in place at Roosevelt/Wellstone High School, and creating personal DVDs for each mother and child in their study. Together, these Oles have gained hands-on research experience that will result in useful tools for teenage mothers and their children.