The Michigan Longitudinal Study (MLS) is the longest longitudinal study following high-risk substance abuse individuals. Originally started at the University of Michigan in 1985, the first generation of participants were recruited to study the effects of substance use, poverty, and educational disadvantages on individuals and families across generations.
Here at Michigan State University, we currently work with the second and third generation families from the original Michigan Longitudinal Study, with the addition of local participants from the four surrounding counties. This project is a collaboration between Dr. C. Emily Durbin (Child Emotions Lab) and Dr. Jason Moser (Clinical Psychophysiology Lab) to study how children and parents’ personalities and brain activity patterns are related to each other over the span of three years.
To study these relationships, families completed cognitive tasks in conjunction with electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brain activity patterns during the task. Children repeated these psychophysiological tasks every 18 months to capture the changes in brain activity during development. Families completed a series of questionnaires every year to assess for baseline and changes in personality, behaviors, mental health, and family functioning. Lastly, children completed temperament trait assessment batteries involving a series of emotion-eliciting series of games and tasks are designed to measure their temperament traits.
The Michigan Longitudinal Study is not currently recruiting any new participants. If you are interested in following our research, please visit our Publications page!
