This proposal seeks continuation funds to train research scientists studying the development, life course, and prevention of abnormal behavior. The goals of the Vanderbilt University Developmental Psychopathology Research Training Program are to: (a) prepare trainees to become leading research scientists in the interdisciplinary fields of developmental psychopathology and prevention science; (b) provide a national forum for the maturation and evolution of these fields, and (c) enhance the quality of research being conducted in these fields. During the fourteen years of funding thus far, this program has been successful in achieving all three goals. Seventy-seven percent of trainees who have been funded by this program hold research and/or teaching positions in universities and medical schools or continue their research training. As a result of the program, the 48 current and former trainees during the last decade have completed 220 articles and 312 presentations at national conferences. A forum for the field has been established through a Visiting Scholars program that has led to highly stimulating and mutually beneficial discussions, joint manuscripts, and collaborative research projects. The quality of research at Vanderbilt University has been enhanced, as indicated by both faculty feedback and an increase in research grant funds awarded to program faculty during the past five years. Faculty and trainee research has focused on internalizing disorders, externalizing disorders, disorders of cognition and learning, basic emotional, cognitive, and biogical processes, and prevention and treatment. Funds are requested for two types of trainees: (a) advanced predoctoral trainees (six positions per year) and (b) postdoctoral trainees (six positions per year). The program emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of the field in that trainees come from diverse backgrounds and faculty are represented from clinical, developmental, social, and quantitative psychology, psychiatry, pediatrics, pharmacology, sociology, and education. The foundation of the program is apprenticeship-based research mentoring. All trainees participate in an ongoing weekly proseminar attended by program faculty and renowned Visiting Scholars. Individualized programs are developed for trainees through coursework, workshops, and other experiences. The program is a joint venture of the Departments of Psychology and Human Development (Peabody College) and Psychology (Arts and Science), administered through the John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development at Vanderbilt University. ? ?
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