The applicant requests five years of funding through the Mentored Career Development Award (K23) for training in psychophysiological methods to examine the effects of physical abuse and domestic violence on children. The candidate's ultimate goal is to integrate this training with her previous experience in observational approaches. The candidate will also gain experience in the ethical and methodological issues involved in conducting research with samples of abused and neglected children. Training includes coursework and close mentoring with experts in research on child abuse, domestic violence, psychophysiology, aggression,, measurement design, and multi-variate data analysis. The primary goal of the research plan is to test competing models for the role of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity in the link between family violence and two different types of adolescent aggression: proactive aggression, which is unemotional and instrumental, and reactive aggression, which is emotional and defensive. The trauma of family violence may sensitize children, causing increased ANS activity to subsequent conflict and thereby increased reactive aggression. Alternatively, prolonged exposure to family violence may cause suppressed ANS activity and thus increased proactive aggression. Still another possibility is that family violence does not affect ANS activity, but that ANS response moderates the effect of family violence on adolescent aggression. Data collection will be part of a larger R01 grant examining the effects of abuse and neglect on adolescent development. The sample will include 210 abused adolescents identified by the Los Angeles Department of Child and Family Services and 210 comparison children. ANS arousal and reactivity to conflict stimuli will measured, and information regarding aggression and family violence histories will be obtained. The first year of the award will be devoted to developing stimuli for the psychophysiological assessments and to refining measures of proactive and reactive aggression. The subsequent years will be devoted to conducting the substantive research project.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23HD041428-02
Application #
6620353
Study Section
Pediatrics Subcommittee (CHHD)
Program Officer
Feerick, Margaret M
Project Start
2002-03-01
Project End
2007-02-28
Budget Start
2003-03-01
Budget End
2004-02-29
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$105,659
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Southern California
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
072933393
City
Los Angeles
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
90089
Spies, Lauren A; Margolin, Gayla; Susman, Elizabeth J et al. (2011) Adolescents' cortisol reactivity and subjective distress in response to family conflict: the moderating role of internalizing symptoms. J Adolesc Health 49:386-92
Gordis, Elana B; Margolin, Gayla; Spies, Lauren A et al. (2010) Interparental aggression and parent-adolescent salivary alpha amylase symmetry. Physiol Behav 100:225-33
Gordis, Elana B; Feres, Nashla; Olezeski, Christy L et al. (2010) Skin conductance reactivity and respiratory sinus arrhythmia among maltreated and comparison youth: relations with aggressive behavior. J Pediatr Psychol 35:547-58
Paris, Jason J; Franco, Christine; Sodano, Ruthlyn et al. (2010) Sex differences in salivary cortisol in response to acute stressors among healthy participants, in recreational or pathological gamblers, and in those with posttraumatic stress disorder. Horm Behav 57:35-45
Margolin, Gayla; Vickerman, Katrina A; Oliver, Pamella H et al. (2010) Violence exposure in multiple interpersonal domains: cumulative and differential effects. J Adolesc Health 47:198-205
Margolin, Gayla; Vickerman, Katrina A; Ramos, Michelle C et al. (2009) Youth exposed to violence: stability, co-occurrence, and context. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 12:39-54
Gordis, Elana B; Granger, Douglas A; Susman, Elizabeth J et al. (2008) Salivary alpha amylase-cortisol asymmetry in maltreated youth. Horm Behav 53:96-103
Granger, Douglas A; Kivlighan, Katie T; el-Sheikh, Mona et al. (2007) Salivary alpha-amylase in biobehavioral research: recent developments and applications. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1098:122-44
Gordis, Elana B; Granger, Douglas A; Susman, Elizabeth J et al. (2006) Asymmetry between salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase reactivity to stress: relation to aggressive behavior in adolescents. Psychoneuroendocrinology 31:976-87
Margolin, Gayla; Chien, Deborah; Duman, Sarah E et al. (2005) Ethical issues in couple and family research. J Fam Psychol 19:157-67

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