Research & Publications — Clayton J. Lessor, PhD, LPC | The Quest Project®

For nearly thirty years, The Quest Project® has walked adolescent boys through a counselor-facilitated rite of passage — more than 300 group cycles, over two thousand graduates. From the beginning, the work has been measured. This page collects the peer-reviewed research, the studies in progress, and the instruments that come out of that commitment: the belief that boys and families deserve interventions that can show their work.

Peer-Reviewed Research

Lessor, C. J. (2026). Effects of a counselor-facilitated rite of passage group on behavioral outcomes in at-risk adolescent boys: Evidence from the Quest Project®. Journal of Adolescence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.70208

Summary: In a controlled study, boys who completed The Quest Project® showed significant behavioral improvement compared with similar boys who did not participate — and the comparison group’s behavior worsened over the same ten weeks. The study was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Adolescence in 2026.

Research in Progress

• A retrospective analysis of two decades of archival program-evaluation outcomes (2000–2021) — under independent IRB review.
• A validation study of the Father Wound Assessment, with an outcomes evaluation of the Father Wound Parent Course — under independent IRB review.
• A companion article describing the group model — in peer review at a specialty counseling journal.

The Framework and the Instrument

The research program is built on the father wound framework — five patterns of disruption in the father–son relationship (Absent, Passive, Critical, Volatile, and Enmeshed) — developed across nearly thirty years of clinical practice and described in the published research. The Father  Wound Assessment, a parent-report instrument based on the framework, is currently the subject of a formal validation study.

Parents can take the free Father Wound Assessment here. 

Books

Lessor, C. J. (2016). Saving Our Sons: A Parent’s Guide to Preparing Boys for Success. Self-published.  

Lessor, C. J. (2019). Generation of Men: How to raise your son to be a healthy man among men. Self-published.  

For Researchers and Media

Research inquiries, collaboration, and media requests:
Clayton@ClaytonLessor.com • 314-640-1553.
Clayton J. Lessor, PhD, LPC is a Licensed Professional Counselor in St. Louis, Missouri, founder of The Quest Project®, and the author of Saving Our Sons (2016) and Generation of Men (2019).