Laura Griner Hill

Human Development
Understanding Risk and Protective Factors in Child and Youth Development

Laura Hill

Prevention science integrates developmental theory with research models from the fields of public health, psychology, and epidemiology to help prevent emotional and behavioral problems in children and youth. As a prevention researcher, Dr. Laura Griner Hill conducts basic research on developmental risk and protective factors; applied research related to economic aspects of preventive interventions; and applied research related to the adaptation, implementation, and dissemination of evidence-based prevention programs. Her primary focus in prevention programming is the translation of evidence-based prevention programs from research to real-world environments. Researchers have produced interventions that substantially reduce the risk of maladjustment (e.g., substance use and aggression) in children and youth. Many of these prevention programs have been tested and replicated in rigorous randomized, controlled research trials. However, we know little about how such programs work in the real world. Research on effective means of implementing and disseminating those programs, and on their adaptation to special populations, is now particularly needed. In collaboration with a statewide team of campus- and county-based faculty, state agency representatives, and prevention specialist practitioners, Dr. Hill is conducting a statewide study of the implementation of a substance-abuse prevention program for families with young adolescents. Results from this research will provide important information about how prevention programs spread, how effective they are outside a research context, and how real-world circumstances influence their delivery and results.

Dr. Hill is also conducting a longitudinal study examining motivational, peer, and family influences on children’s social adjustment, in collaboration with colleagues Dr. Nicole Werner and Dr. Matthew Bumpus from the Washington State University Department of Human Development. As they follow children from elementary through high school, they are examining patterns of association between parent-child interactions and child developmental trajectories. They are also exploring determinants of children’s resilience in the face of important transitions, such as the move from elementary to middle school and early adolescence.

Contact Information
Laura Griner Hill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Human Development

Washington State University
PO Box 646236
Pullman, WA 99164-6236

Telephone: 509-335-8478
E-mail: laurahill@wsu.edu

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Laura Hill

Dr. Laura Griner Hill received her bachelor’s degree in Greek at Smith College. She lived in Athens, Greece, for the next eight years, where she co-directed an independent study abroad program for U.S. college and university students. After returning to the U.S., she attended graduate school in clinical psychology. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology from Vanderbilt University, where she was awarded a National Institute of Mental Health predoctoral fellowship in Developmental Psychopathology. After receiving her degree, Dr. Hill did postdoctoral work as a research associate for the FastTrack project, a longitudinal, multisite prevention trial. In 2001 she joined the Department of Human Development at Washington State University. There, she initiated the formation of the Prevention Research Group, an interdisciplinary team of faculty dedicated to promoting the health and well being of youth and family through effective prevention research and practice. Dr. Hill has also been instrumental in forming a statewide partnership between prevention researchers, practitioners, and the Washington State Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse for dissemination of a substance abuse prevention program. This developing network allows for efficient communication among practitioners and researchers, which in turn enables effective program delivery across the state as well as large-scale research on program effectiveness.

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