Serious and persistent social-emotional and behavior problems in children under three years of age are well documented by clinical observations and empirical research. However, little is known about the prevalence, pattern and course of psychopathology in infants and toddlers. Recent developments in public policy and legislation mandate epidemiologic research on children's mental health and offer new opportunities to provide proven intervention and prevention services to eligible infants and toddlers. Valid and reliable instruments for assessing social-emotional and behavior problems are essential to achieve these research and service provision goals. Yet, no validated measure of social-emotional problems and competencies exists for 1- and 2- year old children. The primary goal of this project is to examine the prevalence, developmental patterns and correlates of psychopathology in 1- to 3-year old children. To achieve this goal, we must first validate and refine the Infant-Toddler Social & Emotional Assessment (ITSEA), a questionnaire that will be employed to assess social-emotional problems and competencies in 1- and 2- year old children. A representative community sample of 1,200 parents with 1- and 2- year old children will be recruited from the birth records at Yale-New Haven Hospital. In addition, parents of 240 1- and 2- year-old children referred for possible behavioral, developmental and/or social-emotional problems will be recruited form the South Central Region of the Connecticut Birth to Three System. To examine developmental patterns and correlates of social-emotional problems and competencies, all parents will complete measures of child behavior and temperament, family functioning, parenting stress, and parental affective symptoms. Three smaller substudies will examine the specific psychometric properties of the ITSEA (i.e., test-retest, cross-method, and inter-rater reliabilities), as well as the validity of the competence scales. All children participating in the 3 smaller studies will receive a developmental evaluation. Finally to evaluate the stability of and risk-factors associated with social-emotional problems and delays in competence, all children will be reassessed in a 1-year follow-up.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH055278-04
Application #
2890762
Study Section
Child Psychopathology and Treatment Review Committee (CPT)
Program Officer
Delcarmen-Wiggins, Rebecca
Project Start
1997-09-15
Project End
2000-04-30
Budget Start
1999-05-01
Budget End
2000-04-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1999
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Massachusetts Boston
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02125
Mian, Nicholas D; Soto, Timothy W; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J et al. (2018) The Family Life Impairment Scale: Factor Structure and Clinical Utility with Young Children. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol :1-12
Ben-Sasson, Ayelet; Soto, Timothy W; Heberle, Amy E et al. (2017) Early and Concurrent Features of ADHD and Sensory Over-Responsivity Symptom Clusters. J Atten Disord 21:835-845
Sheldrick, R Christopher; Benneyan, James C; Kiss, Ivy Giserman et al. (2015) Thresholds and accuracy in screening tools for early detection of psychopathology. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 56:936-48
Heberle, Amy E; Krill, Sarah C; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J et al. (2015) Predicting externalizing and internalizing behavior in kindergarten: examining the buffering role of early social support. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 44:640-54
Gray, Sarah A O; Carter, Alice S; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J et al. (2014) Growth trajectories of early aggression, overactivity, and inattention: Relations to second-grade reading. Dev Psychol 50:2255-63
Heberle, Amy E; Thomas, Yolanda M; Wagmiller, Robert L et al. (2014) The impact of neighborhood, family, and individual risk factors on toddlers' disruptive behavior. Child Dev 85:2046-61
Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J; Carter, Alice S; Ford, Julian D (2012) Parsing the effects violence exposure in early childhood: modeling developmental pathways. J Pediatr Psychol 37:11-22
Wakschlag, Lauren S; Henry, David B; Tolan, Patrick H et al. (2012) Putting theory to the test: modeling a multidimensional, developmentally-based approach to preschool disruptive behavior. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 51:593-604.e4
Mian, Nicholas D; Godoy, Leandra; Briggs-Gowan, Margaret J et al. (2012) Patterns of anxiety symptoms in toddlers and preschool-age children: evidence of early differentiation. J Anxiety Disord 26:102-10
Marakovitz, Susan E; Wagmiller, Robert L; Mian, Nicholas D et al. (2011) Lost toy? Monsters under the bed? Contributions of temperament and family factors to early internalizing problems in boys and girls. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 40:233-44

Showing the most recent 10 out of 29 publications