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2026-2028 Effects of Recreational Cannabis Laws on Disparities in Prenatal Substance Use (NIH R03DA063982). Hawkins, Principal Investigator. $155,000. Evaluates effects of state recreational cannabis laws on women’s substance use preconception, prenatally, and postpartum; on birth outcomes; and on health care providers’ assessment of prenatal substance use.

2021-2027 Boston College Center for Child and Family Policy (Buffett Early Childhood Fund). Coley, Principal Investigator. $452,707. Cross-disciplinary institute to increase training, research, and interdisciplinary collaboration in the realm of child and family policy.

2023-2027 Child Policy Leadership Fellowship Program (Bezos Family Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $282,475. Funds provision of fellowships to d graduate students participating in the Child Policy and Leadership graduate certificate program.

2021-2027 ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Australian Research Council CE200100025). Baxter, Principal Investigator. $32,500,000AU. Collaborative research centre seeking to use evidence-based research to develop new knowledge, technology and practices to benefit people living in disadvantage.

2024-2026 Supporting Marginalized Youths' Educational Success: A Mixed-Methods Natural Experiment. (Brady Education Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $368,032. Multi-methods natural experiment to assess how public housing and community redevelopment bolster minoritized and economically disadvantaged children’s educational opportunities and success using a strengths-based perspective.

2021-2026 Targeting Health Disparities through Housing Redevelopment: A Natural Experiment of Housing Quality, Stability, and Economic Integration. (NIH/NIMHD R01MD015729). Coley & Teixeira, Principal Investigators. $3,030,584. Diversity Supplement (with Lacee Satcher) $250,000. Diversity Supplement (with Tara Mandalaywala) $250,000. Multi-method natural experiment of public housing redevelopment to address whether improving housing quality, limiting external displacement, and creating mixed-income communities improves physical, mental, and behavioral health.

2022-2026 The MetroWest Evidence-based Trauma-Informed Referral & Treatment Initiative for Children (METRIC) (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration SM84966). Franks, Principal Investigator. $1,599,070. Collaborative initiative to expand and evaluate trauma-focused, evidence-based mental health services for children aged 2 to 18 and their families.

2023-2025 Evaluating Rental Relief During the COVID-19 Pandemic (NIH R21HD111746). Fusaro, Principal Investigator. $430,375. Create, make publicly available, and analyze a dataset documenting the nature and timing of Emergency Rental Assistance Program implementation policy choices and their effects on eviction, material hardship, and mental health.

2023-2024 Exploring the relationship between family member criminal justice involvement, family well-being, and children's young adult outcomes. Russell Sage Foundation. Carey, Principal Investigator. $8,265. Creation and assessment of criminal justice and census data to track and estimate effects of family member criminal justice engagement on family contexts and children’s young adult economic and social outcomes.

2021-2023 Strengths, Assets, and Receipt of Social Services as Protective Factors in the Relationship between Racial Bias and Maternal and Child Health and Developmental Outcomes. (Annie E Casey Foundation). Sims, Principal Investigator. $175,000. Multi-methods, participatory study to assess how environmental racial bias is linked with maternal and child mental, behavioral, and physical health among Black families.

2021-2023 Impact Analysis of Flavor Restrictions and Tobacco 21 Policies on Youth Tobacco Use. (NIH/NCI R21CA268199). Hawkins, Principal Investigator. $430,375. Examine the impact of state flavor restrictions and state and federal age 21 tobacco restriction policies on disparities in tobacco use among 14-24 year-old youth.

2020-2021 Moving Communities to Opportunity: Exploring Public Housing Redevelopment as a Strategy for Addressing Structural Barriers to Economic Mobility (Russell Sage Foundation & Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 1911-18980). Teixeira & Coley, Principal Investigators. $25,916. Quasi-experimental analysis of whether redeveloping public housing into mixed-income communities affect community resources, stressors, and concentrated disadvantage.

2020-2021 Worcester Beyond Healthcare: Resilience and Trauma in the Context of Affordable Housing Communities. (Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts). Vinick, Principal Investigator. $150,000. Community-based project to increase housing stability and enhance trauma-informed services in three public housing developments in Worcester, MA.

2019-2024 Paternal Influence on Children’s Weight Outcomes (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 1R01HD098421). Davison, Principal Investigator. $3,074,562. Uses longitudinal cohort data to examine predictors and consequences of fathers’ weight-related parenting behaviors. 2019 Worcester Beyond Healthcare (Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of Massachusetts). Vinick, Principal Investigator. $75,000. Pilot study to develop community-based initiative to increase housing stability and enhance trauma-informed services in three public housing developments in Worcester, MA.

2017-2020 Resource and Stress Processes Underlying Economic Disparities in Early School Success (National Science Foundation 1650035). Coley & Votruba-Drzal, Co-Principal Investigators. $307,278. Combining longitudinal data on children’s development and family processes with geocoded data from numerous contextual data sources to delineate resource and stress processes underlying economic disparities.

2015-2017 Peer Effects on Children and Teachers in Preschool Classrooms (Administration for Children and Families). Coley, Principal Investigator. $146,956. Secondary analysis of longitudinal data on children in state-funded preschools to assess the role of peer effects on children’s academic and social development and on classroom instructional quality.

2014-2020 ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (Australian Research Council). Baxter, Principal Investigator. $20,000,000AU. Collaborative research centre seeking to advance basic, applied, and translational research to reduce intergenerational and long-term economic disadvantage and improve the life chances of poor children and families.

2013-2016 Socioeconomic Disparities in School Readiness Skills and the Role of Early Education and Care (Spencer Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator; Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, Co-Investigator. $355,724. Assesses the role of early childhood education programs in ameliorating or exacerbating economic disparities in children’s cognitive and behavioral school readiness skills. 2011-2015 Housing Contexts and Low-Income Children’s Development (MacArthur Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator; Linda Burton & Tama Leventhal, Co-Investigators. $900,000. Employs intensive ethnographic, survey, and administrative data to assess low-income families’ housing experiences and delineate connections to children’s health and development from infancy through middle childhood.

2011-2013 Housing Contexts and Youth Development within Urban Low-Income Families (W. T. Grant Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator; Burton & Leventhal, Co-Investigators. $324,841. Assesses multiple aspects of low-income families’ housing, neighborhood, and family contexts, and tests links with youth functioning from age 10 to 21.

2010-2014 Health Risk Trajectories Across Adolescence: Understanding Gender Differences (W. T. Grant Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator; Mahalik & Jaffe, Co-Investigators. $394,058. Assesses how family and peer contexts affect the initiation and sustainment of health risk behaviors both directly and in interaction with genetic risks, with particular attention to gender divergence in such behaviors.

2008-2010 Child Care Resources in Low-Income Communities. (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Coley & Votruba-Drzal, Co-Principal Investigators. $162,593. Assesses child care decisions and the implications of child care experiences for the health and well-being of low-income children and mothers using longitudinal survey, observational, and assessment data.

2008-2010 Bidirectional Links between Parenting Processes and Adolescent Risk Behaviors (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Coley, Principal Investigator. $156,251. Assesses transactional and bidirectional links between parenting processes and adolescent health risk behaviors (substance use and risky sexual behaviors), employing large, longitudinal data sets.

2008-2009 Distinguishing Between Family Structure and Family Instability on Child and Adolescent Well-Being in Low-Income Families (National Center for Marriage Research). Bachman & Coley, Co-Principal Investigators. $20,000. Assesses effects of current family structure, recent transitions, and cumulative instability on low-income children’s cognitive, behavioral, and psychological well-being.

2006-2007 Welfare Reform and the Well-Being of Children: The Three-City Teacher Survey (Casey Foundation). Cherlin, Principal Investigator. $100,000. Additional component to the Three-City Study comprised of multi-method assessments of low-income urban children’s school contexts, educational experiences, and academic functioning in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio.

2004-2007 Welfare Reform and the Well-Being of Children (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Cherlin, Principal Investigator. $6,324,019. Longitudinal, multi-method study on the long-term effects of welfare reform on children, families, and communities in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio. Particular focus on maternal welfare and employment transitions and child and adolescent well-being.

2003-2007 Fathers’ Contributions to Adolescent Well-Being (W. T. Grant Foundation). Coley, Principal Investigator. $180,688. Analysis of fathers’ direct and indirect contributions to adolescent psychosocial and educational well-being, with a particular focus on low-income and nonresidential fathers.

2003-2005 Father Involvement and Child Well-Being in Poor Families (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Coley, Principal Investigator. $154,500. Analysis of the influence of fathers’ financial, human, social, and emotional capital on young children’s healthy developmental trajectories in low-income families.

2000-2001 Comparing Mother and Father Reports of Father Involvement among Low-Income Minority Families (Health and Human Services Research Development Grant). Coley, Principal Investigator. $26,242. Methodological research addressing the congruence and predictors of congruence between mother and father reports of paternal involvement in low-income households.

1998-2002 Welfare Reform and the Well-being of Children. (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). Cherlin, Principal Investigator. $12,000,000. Longitudinal, multi-method study on the effects of welfare reform on children, families, and communities in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio.

1997-2002 Children, Families, and Welfare Reform: A Three-City Study (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). Chase-Lansdale, Principal Investigator. $2,024,465. Longitudinal, multi-method study on the effects of welfare reform on children, families, and communities in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio. Particular focus on child development for preschool and early adolescent children.

1997-2001 Three-City Study of Family Economic and Social Well-Being After Welfare Reform (Joyce Foundation). Chase-Lansdale, Principal Investigator. $360,000. Longitudinal, multi-method study on the effects of welfare reform on children, families, and communities in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio. Particular focus on child care usage and quality among preschool-age children.

• Carey, N. & Coley, R. L. (2026). U.S. children’s exposure to recent family member criminal legal system involvement. JAMA Network Open, 9(5):e2612183. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.12183Ìý
• De Oliveira, M. H., Grafft, N., Armbruster, S., Park, I. Y., Lo, B. K., Cantu-Aldana, A., Bauer, K. W., Coley, R. L., Haneuse, S., Haines, J., & Davison, K. (2026). Men’s physical activity in adolescence predicts their physical activity parenting as fathers. Academic Pediatrics. Ìý
• Fusaro, V, Baidoo, C., Carey, N., & Coley, R. L. (2026). Rental assistance, housing security, and well-being: Spillover effects of emergency rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social Science & Medicine. Ìý
• Fusaro, V. & Coley, R. L. (2026). Pandemic emergency rental assistance improved children’s wellbeing. JAMA Pediatrics. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.6291Ìý
• Graftt, N., Taylor, C., Coley, R. L., Davison, K. K., & Lyons, K. S. (2026). Incongruence in fathers’ and mothers’ adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and children’s behavior problems. Family Relations. Ìý
• Hawkins, S. S., Baidoo, C. E., Coley, R. L., Centanni, R. S., & Baum, C. F. (2026). The impact of recreational cannabis legalization on cannabis use in US adults from 2016 to 2023: A quasi-experimental study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 70(5):108221. DOI 10.1016/j.amepre.2025.108221Ìý
• Teixeira, S., Chen, Z., & Coley, R. L. (2026). The 4Cs of housing: Resident perspectives on cost, conditions, consistency, and context in a public housing neighborhood. Housing Policy Debate. DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2026.2669261.Ìý
• Wallace, M. G., Prasanth, S., Egar, A., Satcher, L. A., Teixeira, S., Coley, R. L., & Adamkiewicz, G. (2026). In-unit particulate matter (PM2.5) in a public housing complex and the importance of tobacco and cannabis as indoor pollutants. Indoor Environments. PMCID: PMC13082832Ìý
• Coley, R. L., Leer, J., & Lanteri, L. (2025). Trends in mental and behavioral health risks in adolescents: 1999–2021. Pediatrics, 155 (4), e2024068774.ÌýÌý
• Coley, R. L., McCoy, D., Hatch, S. (2025). How poverty shapes children’s structural and social environments: An integrative conceptual framework and review. American Psychologist.

Mavis Hetherington Award for Excellence in Applied Developmental Science, American Psychological AssociationÌý

Fulbright Senior Scholar Award Recipient

Social Policy Award, Society for Research in AdolescenceÌý

Editor,

Co-Chair, Science and Social Policy Committee, Society for Research in Child Development

Steering Committee Member, University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium

Steering Committee Member, Child Care and Early Education Policy Research Consortium

Consulting Editor, Child Development

Advisory Board Member, Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy