Recent research in clinical and developmental psychology has focused on the processes that lead to childhood adjustment problems. This research demonstrates that many adjustment problems of childhood are characterized by failures of self-regulation. Difficulties in the regulation of arousal and behavior are related to specific disorders of childhood, including attention deficit disorder and conduct problems, and related problems in family relationships, social competence, and school performance. Recent work by the Principal Investigator demonstrates that the construct of self-regulation may be usefully studied using a multi-component approach that specifies discrete levels of self-regulation (physiological, attentional, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive). Longitudinal research that the Principal Investigator has been conducting over the last ten years, following several cohorts of infants and children, has utilized this multi-component approach. The K02 award period will be used to continue work on the role of self-regulatory process in early childhood behavior disorders and to expand the Principal Investigator 's expertise in 4 core areas that will contribute to the elaboration of this model of self-regulation and developmental psychopathology.
The specific aims are to: (1) further examine sub-domains of self-regulation, with specific emphasis on the cognitive skills that are characteristic of infants and children; (2) understand the possible genetic and biological contributions to self-regulation and developmental psychopathology, particularly in the context of specific rearing environments; (3) examine environmental effects on trajectories of self-regulation, particularly family processes and marital functioning; and (4) acquire skills that would facilitate the longitudinal analyses of trajectories of self-regulation and behavior problems of childhood. The goal of this award will be to initiate work on a new longitudinal study of infant and child psychopathology. This study will focus on genetic, biological, and contextual risks that affect the development of core.regulatory processes in the context of family conflict and.violence.
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