The New Parents Project (NPP) is a long-term research study that has followed 182 couples (mothers and fathers) from prior to their first-born child’s birth through their first-born child’s 7th birthday. The central goals of NPP are to understand the development of family relationships—especially father-child relationships—and how these relationships affect children’s social and emotional development. However, NPP has evolved into so much more—spawning scientific discoveries regarding how new mothers and fathers divide childcare, the evolution of romantic relationships across the transition to parenthood, and even how policy-relevant factors such as parental leave may affect the lives and parenting experiences of new mothers and fathers.
NPP began in 2008 with funding from the National Science Foundation (to Sarah Schoppe-Sullivan, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (to Claire Kamp Dush), Ohio State’s Institute for Population Research, and Ohio State’s Human Development and Family Science program.
Unique features of NPP include:
- focus on dual-earner couples in which both mothers and fathers worked for pay prior to and after their first child’s birth
- use of multiple methods of assessment, including observations of family interactions, time diary interviews, and surveys
- full inclusion of fathers in all aspects of the study
- integration of psychological and demographic perspectives on family development
More information about the NPP original study design and sample: NPP Overview (Original)-2aiforu
NPP Contributions in its first 10 years 2008-2018: NPP contributions-129sybu