Welcome to New Participants

This page contains important information that can help you decide if participation is right for you. 

We have been following the same 5,000 families for over 20 years! Your child's other parent was part of this original cohort. Now we are inviting you to participate in this survey and any additional studies that we may conduct in the future. You will be contributing valuable information about the successes and challenges young parents face today.

There are two activities in this study. First, we ask you to complete a survey by phone or online. The survey should take about 45 minutes and will include questions about your health, parenting experiences, and background.  As a thank you for completing the survey, you will receive $100.

The second part is to provide saliva (spit) and stool (poop) samples for each of your eligible children. You will receive a kit in the mail to collect the samples and a prepaid mailer to send the samples to our lab. We will also ask you to send a saliva sample from yourself.

You will receive $75 for each eligible child sample ($150 for both saliva and stool samples) and an additional $75 for your own sample.

We will ask you to send a saliva sample for yourself. You will receive a kit with everything you need to collect the saliva sample. The kit will also include a prepaid mailer to send the sample to our lab. As a thank you for your participation, you will receive $75 for the sample. 

Columbia Affiliations
Columbia Population Research Center