Deborah-Gorman Smith, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry
Institute for Juvenile Research
University of Illinois at Chicago
Click for my CV

Research Interests:

My program of research is focused on advancing our knowledge about development, risk, and prevention with children, youth and families, and the settings of their development. Along with my colleagues, Drs. Patrick Tolan and David Henry, our intent is to articulate and refine a developmental-ecological model of psychosocial functioning through longitudinal studies that can help direct prevention and related policies. We are interested in understanding how the family tasks of raising and protecting their children are affected by the social context in which they live (e.g., exposure to violence, neighborhood conditions, the schools the children attend, the peer groups they affiliate with). In particular, we are interested in how differences among characteristics of low-socioeconomic urban communities can affect families and their influence on children's development and the implications these relations may have for prevention design and competence-promoting policies. Our primary outcomes of interest are delinquency and violence, including dating and partner violence among adolescents and young adults.

Brief Description of Current Projects:

Chicago Youth Development Study: This longitudinal study (Chicago Youth Development Study- CYDS) began in 1991 and tracks the development of risk for school failure, antisocial behavior, and violence among inner-city male adolescents. The most recent funding expands the focus to include women by adding the romantic partners of the males and a cohort of similar age females to the sample. This has permitted us to evaluate issues related to relationship development and partner violence among this population. We are currently seeking funding to follow the children of the original sample, with a specific focus on the impact of fathering and father involvement.

SAFE Children Schools and Families Educating Children (SAFE Children) applies knowledge developed from CYDS to an intervention. The primary aim is to test, for families living in inner-city Chicago with children entering first grade, the effects of a family-based comprehensive preventative- intervention targeting key risk markers for later drug and other substance use. The current funding is a continuation of the original study and is designed to evaluate the impact of a booster intervention delivered during fourth grade, as well as the long term impact of the original intervention delivered during first grade.

CDC Violence Prevention Initiative (GREAT Schools and Families): This is a multi-site school violence prevention initiative. Four sites (UIC, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Georgia at Athens, an Duke University) are implementing a multi-component intervention designed to address a major scientific question regarding reducing school violence: Are greater reductions in school violence found when a general violence prevention program is implemented with all children in a given grade or when an intervention is targeted at those youth who are at greatest risk for involvement in violence (i.e. those already participating in a high rate of aggressive behavior)or are both types of intervention needed? The intervention components are broken down into two approaches: universal and targeted intervention. The universal intervention is being implemented with all students in 6th grade. The universal intervention has two components: a social cognitive and problem solving intervention delivered to students; and a teacher training component around the issues of classroom management strategies and building awareness of aggression and victimization in the classrooms. The targeted intervention is focused on those students who are at high risk for violence and includes a family intervention delivered in multiple family groups and a school-monitoring component. 16 Chicago Public Schools have been randomized into 4 groups: 1) 4 schools receiving the universal intervention; 2) 4 schools receiving the targeted treatment; 3) 4 schools receiving both treatments; and 4) 4 comparison schools.

Community Ecology of Family Influence on Child Development: Funded through a Faculty Scholar Award by the William T. Grant Foundation, this work focuses on evaluating the impact of community structural and neighborhood social organization characteristics on family functioning and child development.

Current Grants:

Gorman-Smith, D., Tolan, P.H., Henry, D. & Scrimshaw, S. "Predictors of Relationship Violence among Inner-City Youth", National Institute of Child Health and Development, 01/1/97-1/15/02. $868,635.

Gorman-Smith, D. "The community ecology of family influence", W. T. Grant Foundation Faculty
Scholar Award, 7/1/97 - 6/30/02. $250,000.

Tolan, P.H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D. "Promoting Academic and Social Competence among Urban Youth", Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 9/30/99-9/29/02. $1,200,000.

Tolan, P.H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D. "Development of a Youth Violence Prevention Program", Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 10/1/99-11/31/03. $2,377,345.

Szapocznik, J., Gorman-Smith, D., & Plater-Zyberk, E. "The role of the built environment in risk for substance abuse among youth". Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 8/1/99-7/30/01. $250,000.

Gorman-Smith, D., Tolan, P.H., & Henry, D.B. (2000). A developmental-ecological model of the relation of family functioning to patterns of delinquency. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 16,169-198.

Gorman-Smith, D., Tolan, P. H., Sheidow, A. & Henry, D.B. (2001). Partner and street violence among urban adolescents: Do the same family factors relate? Journal of Research on Adolescence, 11, 273-295.

Gorman-Smith, D. & Tolan, P.H. (In press). Positive adaptation among youth exposed to community violence. In S. Luthar (Ed). Risk and resilience: Adaptation in the face of adversity. New York:Lawrence Earlbaum.

Gorman-Smith, D. (In press). Prevention of antisocial behavior in females. In D. P. Farrington and J. Coid (Eds). Primary prevention of antisocial behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Capaldi, D. & Gorman-Smith, D. (In press). Physical and psychological aggression in young adult couples. In Florsheim, P. (Ed.). Adolescent romance and sexual behavior: Theory, research and practical implications. New York: LEA Associates.