East Bay Financial Needs Study (EBFNS): Exploring how financial strain impacts parent-child interactions
Mahesh Srinivasan, Professor
Psychology
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
Differences in academic achievement between high and low socioeconomic status (SES) children arise at a very early age. Understanding the factors that give rise to these differences is essential for understanding the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The East Bay Financial Needs Study (EBFNS) tests the idea that the psychological experience of poverty may lead parents to engage less with their young children, hampering early child development. We focus on parents’ verbal interactions with children, which differ markedly by SES in observational data, and are the most prominent proxy for parental engagement in developmental psychology. We leverage a cash transfer intervention among households in Oakland, CA, to examine impacts on verbal interactions within the household. The pilot sample will be comprised of 100-200 households eligible for CalFresh/SNAP benefits, including young adult mothers—a population whose financial strain has been elevated by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 recession.
Our student researchers will assist with study-related tasks listed below. Student Assistants will provide no more than 15 hours max of support per week. This position is intended for undergraduate students interested in gaining hands-on research experience in psychology/economics and will be supervised by study staff, including Kristina Hallez, Program Manager at the Center for Effective Global Action, and Joelle Tancredi, EBFNS Coordinator. The Principal Investigators are Supreet Kaur (Economics, UC Berkeley) and Mahesh Srinivasan (Psychology, UC Berkeley).
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Joelle Tancredi, EBFNS Coordinator
Role: - Complete CITI training for research with human participants (before beginning work on the study)
- Complete study-specific training
- Recruit participants
- Schedule and conduct consent calls and enroll households in the study
- Physically drop-off and pick up LENA audio recorders and study materials during home visits to participants that live in the San Francisco East Bay Area, CA (including Albany, Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont and Richmond)
- Data entry and/or coding data
- Audio uploading and/or coding audio recordings
- Prepare study materials
- Maintain detailed participant records (paperwork and digital files)
- Distribute baseline, daily, and endline surveys
- Read research articles
- Assist with the general functioning of the lab as needed
- Maintain the confidentiality of research participants, and following all UC Berkeley CPHS guidelines and study team policies
Qualifications: Required
(1) Candidates should have a strong interest in language and cognitive development.
(2) A general fluency with computer software, and strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills (both oral and written).
Preferred
(3) Fluency in Spanish is STRONGLY preferred.
(4) Experience working directly with research participants, especially children, in an academic research environment is a plus, particularly experience working with marginalized or vulnerable populations.
(5) Experience with online survey platforms (e.g. Qualtrics).
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Joelle Tancredi, Staff Researcher
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: Project task will be a hybrid of in-person and online work. Project tasks may involve participant recruitment, visits to community partners or home visits to study participants based in the San Francisco East Bay Area, CA (including Albany, Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont and Richmond).
Related website: https://cega.berkeley.edu/collection/east-bay-financial-needs-study/
Related website: http://lcdlab.berkeley.edu/