Summary of the Institute's Activities and Mission.

The Institute for the Study of Child Development has as its goals:

1. Research designed to understand the processes leading to healthy children
2. Education

Research

Health of children and families involves their emotional, social, and psychological functioning, as well as their physical/medical well being. For a complete understanding of children’s health, research is necessary at all levels of functioning, from the molecular processes underlying behavior to the behavior of the whole child. In addition to understanding the different levels of functioning, it was deemed important to measure the environmental context in which the child is raised. Indeed, to understand development at any level of functioning, from the molecular to the whole child, understanding the role of environment is critical to understanding the developmental process itself. The understanding of the environmental context in which the child is raised involves for the Institute not only the measurement of the social environment, but also the physical environment, including environmental toxins. Ultimately, it is the underlying belief that the study of children’s development will lead to innovative intervention strategies that will benefit children in their everyday lives.

In order to accomplish the research goals of the Institute, studies necessarily must include multiple levels of analysis. These levels range from characterizing the environment, whether it be the physical environment of toxins or the social environment of caregivers, to studying the relation between brain and behavior using brain-imaging technology. Our current research work includes studies of behavioral teratology, as well as studies of the long-term effects of drugs and other toxic exposures during pregnancy. It includes identifying factors that affect the behavioral and physiological reaction to stress and the capacity to cope with stress, including measures of the autonomic nervous system, such as heart rate and heart variability, as well as the study of children’s adrenal cortical functioning. Research also includes the impact of deviant caregiving and traumatic events, such as maltreatment or sexual abuse, that occur in the child’s life, and how these experiences affect the development of the child’s emotions and cognitions and, therefore, mental health, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorders.

In addition, the Institute studies the emergence of consciousness - the development of the mental representation that the child comes to have about itself - and the ability to utilize that knowledge in forming social relationships. Moreover, through the study of the emergence of consciousness, something that occurs in the middle of the second year of life, studies concerning the emergence of such pro-social behaviors as empathy and cooperation are undertaken. Finally, studies at the Institute involve both normal and deviant cognitive, social, and emotional development; studies with autistic children; studies with children with known disabilities such as Down Syndrome and Autism. Studies also seek to understand the sequelae associated with premature birth and how prematurity, a biological condition of the child, interacts with environmental risk in affecting children’s cognitive, social, and emotional development. The Institute’s work also has focused on emotional regulation and inhibitory control, two processes that have serious impact on the child’s social and emotional development, as well as on its peer relationships and school performance.

Education

The Institute provides training for graduate students in clinical and developmental psychology, as well as in other fields of developmental science, including anthropology and education. It also offers research opportunities for Pediatric, Psychiatry, and Radiology residents and fellows. Graduate seminars are conducted for students pursuing a dissertation within the Institute, covering such topics as research design, philosophy of science, and the current areas of controversy in such fields as developmental psychopathology, mental health, and family interactions.

Work and study opportunities for medical students considering a specialty in Pediatrics also are available at the Institute. The program is sponsored either through UMDNJ’s research office or the Department of Pediatrics. Students traditionally work for eight weeks on research projects in progress at the Institute and complete a formal abstract of their research, which subsequently is published or presented at a research conference. The students have the opportunity to observe and study children in a laboratory setting, and they are exposed to data collection and analytic techniques.

In addition to weekly research project meetings and teaching seminars, the Institute provides seminars and lectures to the wider psychological, psychiatric, and pediatric communities. A monthly colloquium series presents speakers on such topics as affect development in children of depressed parents, lead exposure, sexual abuse, childhood obesity, neurodevelopment in HIV-infected children, and MRI studies of brain and behavior. Colloquium presentations by the entire Institute faculty are an integral part of the Institute’s activities, and many colloquia and Grand Round presentations occur in the local community, in the nation, and to international audiences. In addition, the Institute faculty frequently is invited to speak at conferences, academic institutions, and parent advocacy groups. Finally, a monthly Brown Bag research seminar is held where faculty of the Institute, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School , and Rutgers University , are invited to present updates on their research activity.

The Institute, together with the Department of Pediatrics, has cosponsored an annual conference on topics of current interest to allied healthcare professionals providing services to children and their families. Continuing education credits have been available for those attending. The conferences have been jointly funded by UMDNJ, the State of New Jersey Department of Human Services Office for Prevention of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, and the Department of Pediatrics. Past conference topics have included: Environment-Illness Interaction; Motor Behavior: Theory to Practice; Developmental Outcomes in the Cocaine-Exposed Infant; Emotional Development of Children with Disabilities; Families’ Risk and Competence; Stress and Soothing; and Origins of Violence.

The three legs of the activities of the Institute - research, clinics, and education and professional training - have resulted in significant activities and products that can be found in the following pages. This includes research grants obtained in the last twenty years, the students and colleagues trained in our educational/professional training activities, and the publications of the Institute and its faculty. It is amazing, in thinking back over these twenty years, the progress we have made. The credit for such progress must be shared not only with the faculty of the Institute, but with the three Deans with whom we have had the pleasure to work: Drs. Richard Reynolds, Normal Edelman, and Harold Paz; as well as to the support and encouragement of the chairs of the Department of Pediatrics: Drs. Lawrence Taft, David Carver, Daniel Notterman and Patricia Whitley-Williams.