Hill's research program has focused on parental practices that guide children's academic development, which include setting expectations for school work, providing valuable learning strategies, and establishing beliefs about learning. Hill's co-authored article (with Diana Tyson) titled
Parental involvement in middle school: a meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement won the Social Policy Best Article Award from the Society for Research in Adolescence in 2010. This paper reported a
meta-analysis of 50 studies, conducted over a span of 26 years with over 50,000 students, which focused on the effects of parental involvement on the academic development of adolescents. Hill and Tyson found that parental involvement during middle school increased children's academic and career success, with largest effects associated with academic socialization practices. Parental involvement helped children to think about the kind of jobs they wanted for themselves in the future and how to set academic goals (including selecting appropriate coursework) to reach their career goals. Research suggests that parental involved is especially important during the middle school years, when adolescents are beginning to think about going to college and need support to further their chances of getting into the college programs that match their interests. Hill is co-author (with
Alexis Redding) of
The End of Adolescence: The Lost Art of Delaying Adulthood, which focuses on the transition to adulthood and the historical precedence and rationale for extending the time to adulthood. She has co-edited several volumes including
African American Children and Mental Health, African American Family Life: Ecological and Cultural Diversity, and
Families, Schools, and the Adolescent: Connecting Research, Policy, and Practice. == Representative Publications ==