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Lauren Tighe

IPR Research Assistant Professor; Co-Director of the Northwestern Two-Generation Research Initiative

IPR Research Assistant Professor; Co-Director of the Northwestern Two-Generation Research Initiative

PhD, Developmental Psychology and Social Work, University of Michigan, 2019

Contact: lauren.tighe@northwestern.edu

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Tighe is interested in the role of families in the development and academic success of children and youth. Within the NU2Gen team, she has led numerous two-generation projects including:

  • the effects of an English as a Second Language program on immigrant families using mixed methods,
  • descriptive analysis of the differences in postsecondary outcomes before and after the implementation of a novel college promise program, and
  • the experimental outcomes of a community-based workforce and education training program for parents.

She is an expert in secondary data analysis with large datasets and will lead a new project exploring the role of childcare in the success of parent participants in the HPOG 2.0 program (ACF).

Tighe is a four-time University of Michigan alumna and received her PhD in developmental psychology and social work in 2019. Prior to graduate school, she was a high school math teacher in Detroit.

Selected Publications

Tighe, L.A., T.E. Sommer, T.J. Sabol, and P.L. Chase-Lansdale. 2024. Improving the education and wellbeing of student parents. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1532(1): 10-7. 

Sommer, T.E., L.A. Tighe, T. Sabol, P.L. Chase-Lansdale, H. Yoshikawa, J. Brooks-Gun, A. Morris, and C. King. 2023. The effects of a two-generation English as a Second Language program on immigrant parent and child outcomesApplied Developmental Science  28(3): 227–46.

Sommer, T.E. J. Jones, L.A. Tighe, P.L. Chase-Lansdale, and A. Addie. 2021. A novel two-generation approach to college promise: HOPE Toledo Promise. Policy Brief, College Promise 

Davis-Kean, P., L.A. Tighe, and N. Waters. 2021. The role of parent educational attainment in parenting and children’s development. Current Directions in Psychological Science 30(2): 186-92. 

Tighe, L.A., and P. Davis-Kean. 2021. The influence of high parental education on children from low-income families. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 67(3): 293-328.