Many first-time parents worry that they are babes in the woods when it comes to raising a healthy child. A four-year study at UC Davis is looking at the best way to help these couples create happy, competent families. In an ongoing research project, human development professor Carol Rodning is asking whether handing out information alone is potent enough guidance to first-time parents or if it is better to offer classes and teach them skills through one-on-one guidance. "We're hoping to develop a model of parent support that can be applied in local situations throughout the state in childcare and pre-school settings," she says. In a separate study published in the November 1999 Infant Mental Health, Rodning established that family-based intervention significantly increases the number of infants who form secure attachments with their parents. Her current study works with couples before and after their offspring are born until the children are 3 years old. Meeting regularly with Kathleen Grey, family development specialist, and Donis Eichhorn, a perinatal development specialist, the new parents discuss issues ranging from how infants develop to how the couple's relationship is affected by the transition to parenthood. Since the first "class" of infants arrived last spring, the couples have joined a play group that continues to explore issues of family relationships. Three more groups of first-time parents will be monitored before any conclusions are made, Rodning says. Visuals: The families are available for interviews at the weekly Friday playgroup sessions at the Center for Child and Family Studies at UC Davis. To make arrangements, contact Kathleen Grey at (530) 752-4150.