Department
of Psychology
Specialization in Children, Families, and Cultures
Research Areas:
Even Start Intervention for Latino Migrant Families
Neural Mechanisms of Childhood Mood Disorders
Preventive Interventions for Emotion Regulation in Children/Adolescents
One major effort is a
prospective longitudinal study of adolescent suicide attempters and their
parents, concerned with answering the following questions: (a)
Can we identify family risk factors that distinguish hospitalized
adolescent suicide attempters from hospitalized adolescents who differ only in
that they have never attempted suicide? (b) Do any of the potential family risk
factors predict whether the adolescent will have a suicidal relapse in the
two-year period following their hospital discharge? (c) Can we identify patterns
of coping with stress that are unique to suicidal adolescents, and if so, do
these seem to be linked in any meaningful way with the strategies their parents
use to manage stress, or the characteristic communication style of their
parents? (d) Is there any evidence that the suicidal youth is the family
scapegoat (i.e., the family member who is typically blamed for any family
problems)? Graduate students and
faculty are currently writing and analyzing data on behavioral observations of
family interaction, attachment, coping/emotion regulation, adherence to
treatment interventions post-attempt, and differences in parental treatment of
siblings.
A second project has tracked the development of suicidal symptoms in an epidemiologically defined population of mostly African American youths who were assessed repeatedly from first grade through young adulthood. Recent papers have documented the frequency of suicidal symptoms and the co-occurrence of those symptoms with psychiatric disorders, the association of child maltreatment with suicidal symptoms, and prediction of adolescent and young adult suicidal symptoms from childhood depression. We are currently writing a report based on the results of an analysis showing prediction of adolescent suicidal symptoms from first grade peer nominations.
As stated in the overview of the CFC program, developmental research is needed to provide a clearer conceptualization of normative processes among ethnic minorities in order to contribute to the foundation of psychopathology research within this population. One example of this in our work is an examination of the cultural environments of young children of immigrant African and Latino families. In collaboration with investigators at Children’s National Medical Center, we are researching acculturative processes and cultural development at the early periods of life, as well as exploring the extension of current acculturation models to early childhood. In addition to better informing theories on cultural development, we are interested in the clinical application of such research in terms of acculturative stress and the “acculturation paradox,” where greater levels of psychopathology are evidenced among more acculturated generations than recently immigrated generations.
There are over three million migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States who contribute to a $28 billion dollar agricultural industry, but yet experience poverty, poor health conditions, low literacy rates, limited English proficiency, and one of the highest grade retention and high school dropout rates in the country. Recently, the Department of Education provided funding to develop, deliver, and examine a multisystemic intervention program aimed at increasing the language and literacy development of Latino preschoolers and their farmworking families. In addition to examining the intervention’s overall implementation, delivery, and effectiveness, we are examining how variations in child, parent, and family characteristics (such as, linguistic processes, acculturative stress, mental health, attendance) relate to the variations in intervention response.
Language and Literacy Development
In addition to sociocultural processes, language and literacy development is of critical importance among ethnic minorities. Nearly 1 in 5 children in the United States is raised in a bilingual environment, a proportion that has been increasing dramatically over the past century. However, relatively little is understood about the language development of bilingual children, which limits clinical, medical, and pedagogical practices. Our research examines language development of children reared with varying degrees of exposure to two languages and the effects of psychological and sociological factors on Latino’s early language development.
Ongoing research aims to test models of the processes by which marital conflict influences the adjustment of children. Of particular recent and current interest is longitudinal work examining whether emotional security may mediate the effects of destructive and constructive marital conflict on children, and cross-cultural investigations of children's perceptions of marital conflict. Other work is examining variations in developmental trajectories of boys and girls through the transition to adolescence, and the possible moderating roles of family factors including parental psychopathology.
We are at the initial stages of testing pilot interventions of parent groups which aim to teach parents how to best interact with their early adolescent offspring during emotionally charged incidents. The interventions incorporate education about adolescent development, and aim to foster an "emotion-coaching" philosophy.
Neural Mechanisms of Childhood Mood Disorders
Advances in neuroimaging are allowing for increasingly sophisticated explorations of the neural mechanisms that may cause, mediate, or exacerbate mood disorders in youth. Our research aims to use neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine the cognitive, affective, and behavioral deficits seen in pediatric mood disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.
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Cummings, E. M., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Papp, L. M. (2004). Everyday marital conflict and children’s aggression in the home. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 191-202.
Cummings, E. M., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Papp, L. M. (2003). Children’s responses to everyday marital conflict tactics in the home. Child Development, 74, 1918-1929.
Davies, P. T.,
Harold, G. T., Goeke-Morey, M. C., & Cummings, E. M. (2002). Child
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Dickstein, D.P., Rich, B.A., Binstock, A.B., Towbin, K.E.,
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Rich, B.A., Schmajuk, M., Perez-Edgar, K., Pine, D.S., Fox, N.A., Leibenluft, E. (2007). Different psychophysiological and behavioral responses elicited by frustration in pediatric bipolar disorder and severe mood dysregulation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 164 (2), 309-317.
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