Papers by Jessica Harding
Contraception
Use this link to access: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1lmU%7E2SvwdBUF
Objectives: It is import... more Use this link to access: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1lmU%7E2SvwdBUF
Objectives: It is important to identify programs that can work in multiple contexts to support adolescent parents in achieving their reproductive health goals. A randomized controlled trial in Ohio in 2012 found that the Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy program increased contraceptive use and reduced repeat pregnancy, including unintended pregnancy, among adolescent parents. To facilitate access to contraceptives and support adolescents who wish to avoid repeat pregnancy, this 18-month program offers monthly motivational interviewing sessions with health care workers and assistance from social workers. This randomized controlled trial examined whether program impacts on increased contraceptive use and reduced repeat pregnancies could be replicated in New York City (NYC).
Study design: From 2020 to 2022, 702 pregnant and parenting adolescents ages 10 to 20 years were enrolled from seven NYC hospitals. Participants were randomized to either NYC-Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy or a usual-care control condition, which included potential access to contraceptives through either Title X or federally qualified health centers. Five hundred and fifteen participants completed follow-up surveys approximately 18 months after enrollment. Differences in outcomes were assessed using ordinary least squares regression.
Results: The study did not detect impacts on receipt of reproductive health information, contraceptive knowledge, contraceptive use, repeat pregnancy (the preregistered primary outcome), repeat unintended pregnancy, or other sexual risk behaviors. Participants in the treatment group agreed more strongly that they had received information to find community resources to support their family. The null results may be due to implementation challenges, including low treatment dosage, staff turnover, and limitations on inperson meetings and access to contraceptives related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions: More research is needed to replicate evidence-based programs to support adolescent parents' reproductive planning.
Implications: An effort to replicate Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy in NYC did not detect impacts on contraceptive use or repeat pregnancy outcomes. Future replications of this and other programs are needed to identify whether multicomponent programs can work in multiple contexts and at scale to support adolescent parents in achieving their reproductive health goals, such as avoiding repeat pregnancy.
Early Education and Development, 2025
Research Findings: We examined associations between young children’s
school readiness and the Ear... more Research Findings: We examined associations between young children’s
school readiness and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Third
Edition (ECERS-3) and the Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pre-K CLASS), and whether these measures need to reach thresholds to promote children’s outcomes.
We only found one significant linear association (of 30) between the ECERS-3 and Pre-K CLASS and children’s outcomes. We only
detected three significant threshold findings (of 30). These suggested ECERS-3 Math Activities and Learning Opportunities scores were stronger predictors of literacy skills in classrooms above the median on quality than in lower qualityclassrooms. This provides the first evidence that there are some limited and small associations between the ECERS-3 and children’s learning when quality meets certain thresholds. We also found evidence that Pre-K CLASS Classroom Organization scores were associated with children’s behavioral outcomes when classroom quality was above the median. We did not find evidence of thresholds for other quality subscales or outcomes, or when using conceptually selected thresholds, supporting recent findings that associations between classroom quality and children’s outcomes are limited even when examining thresholds.
Practice or policy: Early childhood monitoring systems should consider whether and how to set relevant thresholds for quality given limited associations between observed quality and children’s outcomes.
OPRE Report, 2024
The well-being of Head Start teachers is essential to ensuring high-quality early care and educat... more The well-being of Head Start teachers is essential to ensuring high-quality early care and education (ECE) and supporting children's development. The COVID-19 pandemic raised unique challenges to teachers' well-being. In this brief, we explore Head Start teachers' health, anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, stress, and job satisfaction; the supports programs offered and the ones teachers used; and the associations between teachers' well-being and those supports during the pandemic.
Experiencing poverty in early life matters for children's development, health, and well-being (Na... more Experiencing poverty in early life matters for children's development, health, and well-being (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2020; Mustard 2006). Almost one in six children in the United States experiences poverty. Because of longstanding racial inequity in U.S. social, economic, and political systems, Black and Hispanic children are more likely than others to experience poverty. Programs that directly supplement family income aim to help families gain a more stable financial footing and exit poverty. Key federal income support programs include the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Research suggests income support programs such as TANF and EITC can matter for children’s health and well-being, but access to income supports varies by geography, immigration status, family structure, and race and ethnicity (Finkelstein et al. 2022). This brief presents findings from research on equitable access to income supports by nine grantees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Equity-Focused Policy Research grant program.
This brief presents findings from research on equitable access to early care and education suppor... more This brief presents findings from research on equitable access to early care and education supports conducted by 11 grantees of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Equity-Focused Policy Research grant program. The research highlights changes to policy and practices that could help address inequalities.
We conducted virtual observations in pre-K classrooms to understand if using video streaming tech... more We conducted virtual observations in pre-K classrooms to understand if using video streaming technology instead of an in-person observer is practical to assess classroom quality across centers and family child care homes (FCCs) in urban and rural settings. We found that conducting virtual observations using the Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) was practical in both centers and FCCs; however, doing so comes with substantial logistical challenges. In this brief, we share lessons learned for researchers or state agency staff considering virtual observations in pre-K settings.
Coordinated Services for Families: An In-Depth Look at Approaches that Coordinate Early Care and Education with Other Health and Human Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, 2022
This report presents refined models of coordinated services. The models were developed to help id... more This report presents refined models of coordinated services. The models were developed to help identify the variety of ways that coordinated services might operate at the state and local levels. There are three models of coordination at the state level and three models of coordination at the local level.
This report also highlights findings about state and local coordinated services approaches drawn primarily from virtual site visits with eight coordinated services approaches:
Coordination and partnerships. Many different types of partners were involved in the coordinated services approaches. Some coordinated services approaches provided services directly to families, whereas others coordinated with partners to promote systems change—working to transform policies and practices to meet families’ needs more efficiently. Strong communication was essential for both types of coordination.
Eligibility and enrollment. Some coordinated services approaches made progress in synchronizing applications and eligibility determination for multiple services, but none of the coordinated services approaches included in the site visits could enroll families directly into multiple services.
Data collection and use. Coordinated service approaches collected and used data, and some made progress sharing data across partners. In general, however, coordinated services approaches and their partners had limited data capacity and infrastructure.
Funding. Coordinated service approaches used multiple funding sources; blending and braiding funding across federal, state, and private sources helped them meet family needs flexibly. However, they had to ensure they were using funds in line with funding restrictions.
COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinated services approaches provided many resources to families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some coordinated services approaches found that engaging families and coordinating between partners was more difficult virtually, whereas others found that virtual services removed some barriers to engagement.
OPRE Report #2022-309, 2022
Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs for youth provide youth education on ... more Healthy marriage and relationship education (HMRE) programs for youth provide youth education on relationships through classroom-based curricula. Commonly used curricula cover topics such as knowing when you are ready for a relationship, understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships, avoiding teen dating violence, communicating effectively, and managing conflict. Some but not all curricula provide information on decision making about sexual activity and ways to avoid teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.
However, teens also receive information on romantic relationships from many other sources, including their friends and families, the Internet, classmates, social media, and through their own relationship experiences. In addition, the participants in an HMRE program for youth might start the program with differences in their baseline relationship skills, knowledge, and attitudes. For HMRE programs to have their intended effects, curriculum developers and program providers need evidence on which relationship skills, knowledge, and attitudes teens are likely to develop on their own, and which can benefit from the support of an HMRE program.
Understanding Family Engagement in Home Visiting: Literature Synthesis
OPRE Report #2023-004, 2023
Early childhood home visiting is a service delivery strategy that supports a range of positive ou... more Early childhood home visiting is a service delivery strategy that supports a range of positive outcomes, including improved child and maternal health, children’s development and school readiness, family economic self-sufficiency, and the reduction of child abuse and neglect. Evidence-based home visiting programs reached about 278,000 families in 2021, according to the National Home Visiting Resource Center, but many more families are eligible and could benefit from these programs. This literature synthesis aims to deepen understanding of the facilitators of and barriers to family engagement in home visiting, the strategies programs use to support engagement, and topics that would benefit from further research.
Health Affairs, 2022
People with low incomes have poorer health outcomes, including greater risk for disease and short... more People with low incomes have poorer health outcomes, including greater risk for disease and shorter lifespans. This pattern has the least favorable outcomes for those living in poverty but is present at every level of the income ladder. Income support programs that provide a social safety net for families-including the Earned Income Tax Credit and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families-can influence health by meeting families' basic needs and supporting participation in economic development. However, families face inequitable access to income support programs. States vary in whether they offer the Earned Income Tax Credit, and this can lead to unequal access and participation across groups. Critical challenges for policy makers are identifying barriers to access to and participation in income supports as well as developing strategies to increase equitable access to income supports. This article synthesizes evidence on income and health and its relevance to income supports.
Office of Population Affairs infographic, 2020
This infographic presents findings about predictors of repeat pregnancy among teen mothers and ho... more This infographic presents findings about predictors of repeat pregnancy among teen mothers and how accurately we can predict teen pregnancy.
We used data on 982 to 1,517 children from the 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Surve... more We used data on 982 to 1,517 children from the 2014 Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES 2014), which provides nationally representative data about Head Start programs, centers, and classrooms and the children and families they serve. We predicted children’s spring school readiness outcomes from direct child assessments and teacher reports based on the Pre-K CLASS, controlling for fall scores on the outcome of interest and other child, family, classroom, and teacher covariates. We also examined whether associations between the Pre-K CLASS and children’s school readiness outcomes vary for children who are dual language learners, children of color, and children experiencing poverty. Finally, we examined whether classroom quality scores need to reach a particular level, or threshold, to influence children’s school readiness outcomes. That is, we examined whether the association between classroom quality and children’s outcomes varies in classrooms above and below the median on quality scores.
Developmental Psychology, 2022
Many factors at the individual, relationship, family, and community or environmental levels could... more Many factors at the individual, relationship, family, and community or environmental levels could predict repeat teen pregnancies or births, but research on certain factors is limited. In addition, few studies have examined whether these factors can accurately predict whether teen mothers will have a repeat pregnancy.
This study examined theoretically selected predictors of repeat teen pregnancy among 945 pregnant and parenting teens (mean age=17) most of whom were Hispanic/Latina (86 percent). Logistic regression with 47 predictors measured at baseline was used to predict repeat pregnancy. Predictors were selected based on backward selection that aimed for a balance between model performance and model complexity. A random forest model was also used to determine how accurately repeat pregnancy could be predicted based on all predictors.
Significant predictors of repeat pregnancy were: the teen mother having a parent with a serious drinking or drug problem when she was a child, being older, not living with a mother figure, not intending to abstain from sex or use a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC), and having lower resiliency skills. However, predictors explained limited variance in repeat pregnancy, and their accuracy in predicting repeat pregnancy was low.
More research is needed to identify accurate predictors of repeat pregnancy because this could inform program providers or developers about areas that warrant more focus in programming for teen parents, and it could help identify teen mothers at higher risk of a repeat pregnancy so they could be the focus of specific programming.
Measuring Head Start Children's Early Learning Skills Using Teacher Reports During the COVID-19 Pandemic
We examined two teacher-reported scales of children's skills in the Head Start Family and Child E... more We examined two teacher-reported scales of children's skills in the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2014 and 2019. We examined whether these scales have strong measurement properties and validly measure early learning skills in a nonbiased way. We did this to understand whether teacher-reported scales can be used when in-person assessment is not feasible, such as in spring 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Racial Socialization and Racial Discrimination as Intra- and Intergroup Processes
The Wiley Handbook of Group Processes in Children and Adolescents, 2017
Trajectories of Discrimination Across Adolescence: Associations With Academic, Psychological, and Behavioral Outcomes
Child Development, 2016
The authors explored trajectories of perceived discrimination over a 6-year period (five assessme... more The authors explored trajectories of perceived discrimination over a 6-year period (five assessments in 6th-11th grade) in relation to academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment in 8th and 11th grades. They distinguished discrimination from adults versus peers in addition to overt versus covert discrimination from peers. The sample included 226 African American, White, Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Chinese adolescents (ages 11-12 at Time 1) recruited in sixth grade from six public schools in New York City. All forms of discrimination increased during middle school and decreased during high school. The frequency with which adolescents reported different sources and types of discrimination varied across ethnicity/race, but not gender. Initial levels and rates of change in discrimination predicted academic, behavioral, and psychological adjustment in 8th and 11th grades, albeit in complex ways.
Alcohol's harm to others: self-reports from a representative sample of New Zealanders
The New Zealand Medical Journal, 2011
There is a lack of research, internationally and in New Zealand, on the harms experienced as a re... more There is a lack of research, internationally and in New Zealand, on the harms experienced as a result of drinking by others. Such effects have often been neglected in policy development and in estimates of the economic burden associated with alcohol consumption. This study describes the broad range of harms reported by New Zealanders due to the drinking of someone else. A representative national survey was conducted using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing with New Zealanders aged 12 to 80 years (N=3068) in 2008/2009 (response rate - 64%). Harms experienced due to the drinking of others were reported along with demographic variables. One in four respondents indicated that they had at least one heavy drinker in their life. Most of these respondents indicated they had experienced a range of harms because of this person's drinking. Further, 17% of respondents with children reported that their children experienced harm because of the drinking of someone else. Seventy-one percent of those sampled reported experiencing at least one harm because of the drinking of a stranger. A large proportion of New Zealanders report the experience of physical, social, economic, and psychological harms because of the drinking of others. These harms should be considered in the discussion of alcohol policy.
Gains in Language and Cognitive Scores Among Children in Their First and Second Years of Head Start
• Children returning for their second year of Head Start (second-year children) made smaller gain... more • Children returning for their second year of Head Start (second-year children) made smaller gains across a year of Head Start than children entering their first year (first-year children) in four language and cognitive scores (expressive vocabulary, or how well they can name pictures; letter-word knowledge; early writing; and early math), but made similar gains in receptive vocabulary, or the words they understand.
We wanted to understand why second-year children made smaller gains in language and cognitive scores than first-year children.
• As expected, second-year children were older than first-year children. After accounting for age, first- and second-year children made similar gains in early writing and early math.
• Second-year children also had higher fall scores on all five assessments of language and cognitive skills than first-year children, and this difference partially explained why second-year children made smaller gains in letter-word knowledge during the year than first-year children.
• First- and second-year children had similar family background characteristics, enrollment in part-day Head Start classrooms, and classroom quality; these characteristics did not explain the remaining differences in gains in letter-word knowledge and expressive vocabulary.
• Second-year children had teachers with fewer years of experience than first-year children, but this fact did not explain remaining differences in gains in letter-word knowledge or expressive vocabulary.
• We also wanted to understand whether the difference in gains between first- and second-year children was smaller if children were in classrooms with children of their same age. Differences in gains between first- and second-year children did not vary according to whether children were in mixed- or single-age classroom
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded Mathematica to conduct a literature scan to search for... more The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded Mathematica to conduct a literature scan to search for recent studies analyzing how well widely used classroom quality measures—including the Pre-K CLASS—perform. This brief focuses on what we know about how the Pre-K CLASS relates to children’s outcomes in general, and whether its relationships with outcomes differs for key subgroups of children. By summarizing findings of the most recent studies published in the field, we can learn more about how and when quality measures relate to children’s outcomes, the reasons why the strength of those relationships might be modest, and if there is the need to expand existing measures of quality. We
conclude with some implications these findings have for practice and future research.
Maternal and Child Health Journal, 2020
Until recently, federal programs had not explicitly focused on improving the outcomes of highly v... more Until recently, federal programs had not explicitly focused on improving the outcomes of highly vulnerable teen parents. Established in 2010, the Pregnancy Assistance Fund (PAF) aims to improve the health, social, educational, and economic outcomes for expectant and parenting teens and young adults, their children, and their families, through providing grants to states and tribes. This article introduces the Maternal and Child Health Journal supplement "Supporting Expectant and Parenting Teens: The Pregnancy Assistance Fund," which draws together the perspectives of researchers and practitioners to provide insights into serving expectant and parenting teens through the PAF program. The articles in the supplement include examples of programs that use different intervention strategies to support teen parents, with programs based in high school, college, and community settings in both urban and rural locations. Some of the articles provide rigorous evidence of what works to support teen parents. In addition, the articles demonstrate key lessons learned from implementation, including allowing some flexibility in implementation while clearly outlining core programmatic components, using partnerships to meet the multifaceted needs of young parents, hiring the right staff and providing extensive training, using strategies for engaging and recruiting teen parents, and planning for sustainability early. The studies use a range of qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate programs to support teen parents, and three articles describe how to implement innovative and cost effective methods to evaluate these kinds of programs. By summarizing findings across the supplement, we increase understanding of what is known about serving expectant and parenting teens and point to next steps for future research.
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Papers by Jessica Harding
Objectives: It is important to identify programs that can work in multiple contexts to support adolescent parents in achieving their reproductive health goals. A randomized controlled trial in Ohio in 2012 found that the Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy program increased contraceptive use and reduced repeat pregnancy, including unintended pregnancy, among adolescent parents. To facilitate access to contraceptives and support adolescents who wish to avoid repeat pregnancy, this 18-month program offers monthly motivational interviewing sessions with health care workers and assistance from social workers. This randomized controlled trial examined whether program impacts on increased contraceptive use and reduced repeat pregnancies could be replicated in New York City (NYC).
Study design: From 2020 to 2022, 702 pregnant and parenting adolescents ages 10 to 20 years were enrolled from seven NYC hospitals. Participants were randomized to either NYC-Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy or a usual-care control condition, which included potential access to contraceptives through either Title X or federally qualified health centers. Five hundred and fifteen participants completed follow-up surveys approximately 18 months after enrollment. Differences in outcomes were assessed using ordinary least squares regression.
Results: The study did not detect impacts on receipt of reproductive health information, contraceptive knowledge, contraceptive use, repeat pregnancy (the preregistered primary outcome), repeat unintended pregnancy, or other sexual risk behaviors. Participants in the treatment group agreed more strongly that they had received information to find community resources to support their family. The null results may be due to implementation challenges, including low treatment dosage, staff turnover, and limitations on inperson meetings and access to contraceptives related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conclusions: More research is needed to replicate evidence-based programs to support adolescent parents' reproductive planning.
Implications: An effort to replicate Teen Options to Prevent Pregnancy in NYC did not detect impacts on contraceptive use or repeat pregnancy outcomes. Future replications of this and other programs are needed to identify whether multicomponent programs can work in multiple contexts and at scale to support adolescent parents in achieving their reproductive health goals, such as avoiding repeat pregnancy.
school readiness and the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Third
Edition (ECERS-3) and the Pre-K Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pre-K CLASS), and whether these measures need to reach thresholds to promote children’s outcomes.
We only found one significant linear association (of 30) between the ECERS-3 and Pre-K CLASS and children’s outcomes. We only
detected three significant threshold findings (of 30). These suggested ECERS-3 Math Activities and Learning Opportunities scores were stronger predictors of literacy skills in classrooms above the median on quality than in lower qualityclassrooms. This provides the first evidence that there are some limited and small associations between the ECERS-3 and children’s learning when quality meets certain thresholds. We also found evidence that Pre-K CLASS Classroom Organization scores were associated with children’s behavioral outcomes when classroom quality was above the median. We did not find evidence of thresholds for other quality subscales or outcomes, or when using conceptually selected thresholds, supporting recent findings that associations between classroom quality and children’s outcomes are limited even when examining thresholds.
Practice or policy: Early childhood monitoring systems should consider whether and how to set relevant thresholds for quality given limited associations between observed quality and children’s outcomes.
This report also highlights findings about state and local coordinated services approaches drawn primarily from virtual site visits with eight coordinated services approaches:
Coordination and partnerships. Many different types of partners were involved in the coordinated services approaches. Some coordinated services approaches provided services directly to families, whereas others coordinated with partners to promote systems change—working to transform policies and practices to meet families’ needs more efficiently. Strong communication was essential for both types of coordination.
Eligibility and enrollment. Some coordinated services approaches made progress in synchronizing applications and eligibility determination for multiple services, but none of the coordinated services approaches included in the site visits could enroll families directly into multiple services.
Data collection and use. Coordinated service approaches collected and used data, and some made progress sharing data across partners. In general, however, coordinated services approaches and their partners had limited data capacity and infrastructure.
Funding. Coordinated service approaches used multiple funding sources; blending and braiding funding across federal, state, and private sources helped them meet family needs flexibly. However, they had to ensure they were using funds in line with funding restrictions.
COVID-19 pandemic. Coordinated services approaches provided many resources to families during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some coordinated services approaches found that engaging families and coordinating between partners was more difficult virtually, whereas others found that virtual services removed some barriers to engagement.
However, teens also receive information on romantic relationships from many other sources, including their friends and families, the Internet, classmates, social media, and through their own relationship experiences. In addition, the participants in an HMRE program for youth might start the program with differences in their baseline relationship skills, knowledge, and attitudes. For HMRE programs to have their intended effects, curriculum developers and program providers need evidence on which relationship skills, knowledge, and attitudes teens are likely to develop on their own, and which can benefit from the support of an HMRE program.
This study examined theoretically selected predictors of repeat teen pregnancy among 945 pregnant and parenting teens (mean age=17) most of whom were Hispanic/Latina (86 percent). Logistic regression with 47 predictors measured at baseline was used to predict repeat pregnancy. Predictors were selected based on backward selection that aimed for a balance between model performance and model complexity. A random forest model was also used to determine how accurately repeat pregnancy could be predicted based on all predictors.
Significant predictors of repeat pregnancy were: the teen mother having a parent with a serious drinking or drug problem when she was a child, being older, not living with a mother figure, not intending to abstain from sex or use a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC), and having lower resiliency skills. However, predictors explained limited variance in repeat pregnancy, and their accuracy in predicting repeat pregnancy was low.
More research is needed to identify accurate predictors of repeat pregnancy because this could inform program providers or developers about areas that warrant more focus in programming for teen parents, and it could help identify teen mothers at higher risk of a repeat pregnancy so they could be the focus of specific programming.
We wanted to understand why second-year children made smaller gains in language and cognitive scores than first-year children.
• As expected, second-year children were older than first-year children. After accounting for age, first- and second-year children made similar gains in early writing and early math.
• Second-year children also had higher fall scores on all five assessments of language and cognitive skills than first-year children, and this difference partially explained why second-year children made smaller gains in letter-word knowledge during the year than first-year children.
• First- and second-year children had similar family background characteristics, enrollment in part-day Head Start classrooms, and classroom quality; these characteristics did not explain the remaining differences in gains in letter-word knowledge and expressive vocabulary.
• Second-year children had teachers with fewer years of experience than first-year children, but this fact did not explain remaining differences in gains in letter-word knowledge or expressive vocabulary.
• We also wanted to understand whether the difference in gains between first- and second-year children was smaller if children were in classrooms with children of their same age. Differences in gains between first- and second-year children did not vary according to whether children were in mixed- or single-age classroom
conclude with some implications these findings have for practice and future research.