According to the article, extreme shyness, also known as “behavioral inhibition,” is a temperament that causes a child to feel stress or fear in new environments or situations. Gunnar noted that extreme shyness can be identified “as early as the first few months of life,” and may start as oversensitivity to loud noises, bright lights, or other stimuli.
Gunnar encouraged parents of a child with extreme shyness to continue to expose them to new places and people. “The temptation is ‘They don’t like it, so let’s not go,'” Gunnar said. “But the reality is, the more they are exposed to new people, new places, the better. Pretty soon, what was novel isn’t novel anymore.”
The fellowship aims to support academically excellent students with diverse ethnic, racial, economic, and educational backgrounds and experiences. Recipients receive an approximate value of $47,000.
Lussier has conducted research on early learning delays and methods of early intervention and was a McNair Scholar in 2017. He is one of 10 University of Minnesota students who was awarded the fellowship this year.
Established in 1999, the award recognizes recipients for their excellence in instruction; involvement in students’ research, scholarship, and professional development; development of instructional programs; and advising and mentoring of students.
As a recipient, Gunnar will be inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers (ADT) and conferred the title “Distinguished University Teaching Professor.” She will be recognized at an awards ceremony on April 24 at the McNamara Alumni Center.
Ann Masten, PhD, Regents Professor, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, and Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development at the Institute of Child Development (ICD), was recently featured in a Popular Science article that discussed how natural disasters affect the children who live through them.
The article highlighted a recent study that compared the academic performance of children highly impacted by bushfires in Victoria, Australia, to those who experienced little to no impact. The study found that children who were highly impacted showed slower academic progress four years after the natural disaster.
“I think that schools need to recognize the importance of their role, not just in an immediate crisis, but over the long term, both in supporting learning and building a capacity for resilience,” Masten said. “It’s clear that we need more high-quality research going forward to inform what we should be doing, during the short and long term, to build up our capacity to withstand what we know are coming disasters.”
The article discussed research that is showing the long-lasting impact of exposure to domestic violence. For example, the article highlighted research that suggests that witnessing domestic violence may carry the same risk as being abused directly. According to other studies, exposure to domestic violence may rewire the brain and cause health and mental health issues later in life.
According to Gewirtz, violence can feel scarier than war for children. It’s “one of the most terrifying forms of violence because it happens in a place which is supposed to be safe,” said Gewirtz, who also directs the Institute for Translational Research in Children’s Mental Health. “Children are totally powerless, especially very young children. They are totally dependent on their parents.”
Canan Karatekin
“If there’s domestic violence in the household, it’s statistically likely that there’s also physical abuse and emotional abuse and maybe drug or alcohol abuse,” Karatekin told USA Today. “These things go together.”
Carlson’s presentation, Using Reflective Practices to Facilitate Professional Growth, shared the basic principles of reflective practice and coaching, and how it can be used by supervisors and mentors.
Ridge’s presentation, Nature Play Your Way: Incorporating Nature-Based Learning into Your Program, explored the benefits of nature-based learning.
Thomas led a presentation titled, Helping Young Children Develop Life Skills for Understanding and Advocating for Fairness, Equity and Equality. The discussion-based presentation explored best practices for nurturing a child’s desire for fairness.
Helicopter parenting is a term used to describe a parent who pays extreme attention to their child’s life, experiences, and problems, and who might closely manage their home, school, and social environments. Jet fighter parenting, a style that has been adopted by some millennials, refers to a parent who keeps their distance but assists their child in difficult situations or emergencies.
Perry recently collaborated on a research paper that tracked how parents and children interacted while performing simple tasks. “We saw some parents removing a child from an emotionally challenging situation or managing it themselves rather then letting them tackle it on their own,” Perry said. “Parents can build a child’s coping strategies, but not if they step right in. Those parents are unlikely to foster independence.”
Perry notes that, for parents, learning when to help their child is a skill. “[S]upporting their child’s autonomy is also a way to keep them safe,” she said. “That helps them develop skills they need when you’re not there.”
Mangelsdorf received her doctorate in child psychology from ICD in 1988. Since then, she has become internationally known for her research on the social and emotional development of infants and young children.
Founded in 1968, ISDP is a non-profit organization that encourages research on behavior development, paying special attention to the effects of biological factors. Gunnar assumed her role as president following the ISDP 2018 meeting in San Diego.
“As president, I will increase our current efforts to promote integration of animal and human studies. I will also continue the society’s strong support for induction of young students, postdocs, and junior faculty into the society to insure its long-term health,” Gunnar said.
Lee Raby, Ph.D., is currently an assistant professor in developmental psychology at the University of Utah, where he also conducts research around the significance of a child’s early experiences with their caregiver. Lee earned his Ph.D. from the Institute of Child Development (ICD) in 2014. Below, he shares his experience at ICD and how it prepared him for a career in academia.
Why did you choose to attend the Institute of Child Development?
When I was applying to graduate schools, I knew I was interested in studying why individuals’ early experiences in their attachment relationships can have long-term consequences for their adjustment. I chose to attend the Institute of Child Development because it was the ideal program for being trained to research that question. ICD housed an unparalleled concentration of leading scholars and world-class research projects related to attachment theory and developmental psychopathology.
How did ICD prepare you for your current position as an assistant professor?
My graduate coursework prepared me to be an effective instructor by helping me develop an in-depth understanding of contemporary theoretical perspectives and modern research directions, as well as their connections to the longstanding questions and debates in developmental science. My experiences working directly with a number of eminent ICD faculty prepared me for my role as a researcher. My mentors encouraged me to think clearly about the intrinsic complexity of human development, to identify the most important unanswered questions in the area of research that interested me, and to develop a diverse set of methodological skills that would allow me to address those questions in novel ways.
How would you describe your research interests?
In many ways, I am still captivated in the same question as when I started my graduate training: why do early experiences with caregivers have a special significance for shaping individuals’ functioning across the lifespan? My research focuses on individuals’ mental representations about attachment relationships and their neurobiological functioning as potential explanations for the associations between individuals’ experiences of support or adversity and later behavioral outcomes. My research also involves children adopted internationally and children adopted domestically as infants. Research with these unique groups of children allow for more powerful tests of the potential importance of early attachment experiences and can lead to more effective interventions for at-risk children, which is an issue I care deeply about.
What advice do you have for current and/or future ICD Ph.D. students who are planning to pursue a career in academia?
The Institute is a special place. The faculty is composed of many of the top thinkers and researchers in the field who are passionate about mentoring the next generation of developmental scientists. My advice is to take advantage of all the opportunities ICD affords and to actively seek out experiences in many labs. This will provide you with the broad methodological training needed to probe the phenomena that interest you in unique ways. The knowledge, skills, and abilities acquired during this time will serve you well for years to come.
Ridge was a speaker during one of the conference’s plenary sessions. The session, which featured five speakers in total, offered views on how environmental education could be used as a “force for the future.”
The conference highlighted innovations in early childhood development programs and K-12 schools and covered themes including parent engagement, program flexibility, and accountability for student outcomes.
Carlson’s presentation offered lessons on the “marshmallow test,” while Williams Ridge acted as a moderator for a discussion on early learning program characteristics and child outcomes.
Division 56 grants an award annually to an ethnic/racial minority psychologist who has made exemplary contributions to the field of trauma psychology within seven years of graduating from a doctoral program.
Narayan is currently an assistant professor in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at the University of Denver, where she also directs the PROTECT Lab. The PROTECT Lab studies the transmission of parenting behaviors and family dynamics through multiple generations. The current direction of Narayan’s research is to uncover the resilience process of parents and how it affects their transition to parenthood, romantic relationships, and an infant’s health and wellbeing.
Ultimately, her goal is to determine how basic research on family adversity can help inform clinical practices with families at risk for psychological trauma, emotional and behavioral problems, and relational problems.
Philip D. Zelazo, Ph.D., Nancy M. and John E. Lindahl Professor in the Institute of Child Development (ICD), recently co-authored an opinion article in The Hechinger Report on the long-term impact of toxic stress on children who were separated from their families at the southern border.
“Forced separations are extremely stressful, and when stress is strong, frequent and/or prolonged, and occurs without the buffering support of adults to whom the children are attached, the stress can be toxic,” wrote Zelazo and co-author Ellen Galinsky, chief science officer at the Bezos Family Foundation and co-founder of Families and Work Institute. They noted that toxic stress “puts children into a chronic flight or fight response that can compromise their immune function, damage their physical health and undermine the development of brain networks that support their executive function skills.”
According to Zelazo and Galinsky, “we can help children and families recover. But to do so, we must ensure that these reunions take place as soon as possible, and that the children and their parents receive therapeutic help in reconnecting and adjusting to their new lives.”
Narra Moreen, a child psychology undergraduate student at the Institute of Child Development, recently received an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) grant. UROP provides University of Minnesota undergraduate students the opportunity to work on a research, scholarly, or creative project with a faculty mentor.
Moreen is currently working with Richard Lee, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychology, on the complexity of identity. Specifically, she is conducting a qualitative project to better understand the effects of multiracial identity development in college students. Moreen hopes to gain insight on the factors that influence the way students view their identities and how these factors influence their beliefs now.
With the UROP grant, Moreen will receive a research scholarship of $1,500 for 120 hours of research and expense funding up to $300. Below, Moreen provides more information about her research interests and her current project.
What made you want to study child psychology or early childhood?
When I first started college, I had no idea that the child psychology major existed. I started out as a neuroscience major because I was interested in the brain and understanding the biological basis of behavior. While I still find this interesting, I quickly realized that the program I was in was not the right fit for me. I also wanted to learn about the social and cultural influences on behavior, as well as individual differences. A friend of mine told me she was taking a child psychology class and it sounded interesting to me, so I signed up for the Introduction to Child Psychology class the following semester. I was hooked immediately! I loved the intersectional lens that child psychologists use, taking into account research from many disciplines including sociology, biology, anthropology, and more. Additionally, I’ve always loved kids and found human development interesting but had never learned about it in an academic context, so this major was a perfect fit for me.
What kind of research are you involved in?
I am currently working on a UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunity) under the guidance of Richard Lee, Ph.D., and Christine Wu, a graduate student in his lab. I find the complexity of identity fascinating. As a biracial individual, I have experienced firsthand the malleability and confusion that comes with having a biracial identity in a racialized society and have met a number of students who have similar experiences as me. The multiracial population is quickly growing, yet very little research on normative identity development in this population exists. I am conducting a qualitative project to study the effects of the college transition on multiracial identity development in college students, a population that traditionally experiences personal development in many areas. I hope to gain insight into factors that have influenced the way these students view their identities as well as how these factors influence their beliefs now.
What do you find most interesting about child development?
One of the most eye-opening things I have learned in the major is how applicable the study of human development is to many other areas. For example, I did not realize how much social policy impacts children and families, or how different environmental factors can greatly influence children’s health and personality development, resulting in different outcomes for children. Although learning about theories is fundamental to studying development (and many other areas), I’ve found that learning about real-life applications of these theories is what has caused me to develop a deeper passion for human development and is what continues to drive me towards developing a career in this field.
What are your plans for after graduation?
After I graduate in the spring, I would like to take a year or two off to work before applying to graduate school. At this point, I am leaning towards pursuing a Ph.D. to continue researching identity development in minority populations, particularly in the multiracial population. However, I am still exploring and open to opportunities that may come my way this year!
How would you describe your experience at ICD?
I have had a wonderful experience at ICD! Coming from a bigger department, I found that I have made acquaintances quickly in the child psychology major because students often have multiple classes together. Professors are accessible, friendly, and want to help you succeed. I have been happy with the variety of classes available in the major and think that classes complement each other well. I always feel comfortable and at home when I walk into ICD’s building, knowing that everyone there is passionate about the same things as me.
Waters and Narayan are two out of 18 recipients of the 2018 awards from around the world. Recipients of the SRCD grant are early career scholars who exemplify a commitment to child development research.
For Waters, who conducted post-doctoral research at ICD from 2013-2015 and is now an assistant professor at New York University – Abu Dhabi, the grant will support a research project on “Links Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Cellular Damage: The Moderating Role of Attachment Security.”
Narayan, who graduated with a Ph.D. from ICD in 2015 and is now an assistant professor of clinical child psychology at the University of Denver, will pursue a project titled, “Childhood Adversity and Benevolent Childhood Experiences as Predictors of Mental Health Problems in Ethnically-Diverse, Low-Income Fathers Expecting a Baby.”
The summer institute is a 3-day community event hosted by the University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. The institute aims to bring together researchers and educators for three days of professional learning and discussion on practices that support the wellbeing of school communities. The event offered programming for three cohorts: educators new to mindfulness, experienced mindfulness practitioners, and administrators.
Semenov’s presentation focused on program evaluation. In particular, he emphasized the importance of evaluation and measurement techniques to further build a classroom intervention. “It’s important not to treat evaluation and measurement as an afterthought and to plan the intervention in such a way that you can easily measure the desired outcome variables before and after the intervention,” Semenov said.
Further, Semenov discussed his current project with Douglas Kennedy, Ph.D., mindfulness in education lead at the Center for Spirituality & Healing. The project implements a mindfulness-based intervention for teachers in the Twin Cities.
Playing games is a common occurrence in childhood. When playing a game—from tic-tac-toe, to a board game, to a sports game—there almost always is a winner and a loser. While losing can be especially difficult for some, there are several ways parents can offer support as children process their feelings. Institute of Child Development doctoral students offer their recommendations for how you can help your child cope with being on the losing team.
Carrie Depasquale
“Essentially, when your child does poorly in an activity or loses a game (assuming chance was not involved), the loss should be framed in terms of whether or not they tried their best, what they learned during the experience, and how they can do better next time rather than attributing the loss to their skills. Frame losses as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve, rather than as evidence of intrinsic knowledge or ability.” — Carrie DePasquale
Melissa Engel
“Encourage your children to explore many activities. Allow them to guide this process, trying out anything (within reason!) that sparks their interests rather than what you see as the best fit. Inevitably, children will identify their strengths and weaknesses. Engage in frequent dialogue to help your children process their experiences: How did getting a lead in the school play make you feel? What about losing the soccer game? You can generate similar conversations with professional sports teams, music competitions, or other endeavors to help your children realize the universal mountains and valleys of life.” — Melissa Engel
Christina Mondi
“Help your child develop a ‘growth’ mindset. Praise effort rather than outcomes (‘You really gave it your all!’) and highlight evidence and opportunities for growth. For example, you could say, ‘Your defense has come so far since the start of the season!’ or ‘That was a tough game – I bet this experience will make you an even stronger player next time.’ Another great way to model and connect with your child is telling stories about times from your own childhood that you were on the losing team, emphasizing how you coped with disappointment and what you learned.” — Christina Mondi
Ann Masten, Ph.D., Regents Professor and Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development, has been studying resilience for four decades. Her research focuses on competence, risk, and resilience in development with the goal of informing practices and policies that help children facing adversity prepare for learning and life.
Her recent research in Minnesota has focused on school success in homeless and other disadvantaged mobile children, including protective processes like parenting and self-regulation skills.
Below, Masten discusses the definition of resilience and how you can help your child overcome life’s ups and downs.
What is resilience and how does it help children succeed?
Resilience is the capacity to overcome serious threats to development and go on to lead a successful life. Resilience can also apply to any system, such as a family, a community, or the economy.
Resilience of individuals depends on resilience of other systems they interact with. In the case of children, the younger the child is, the more dependent they are on the adults who are caring for them.
What are three things a parent can do to promote resilience in their child?
Nurture a secure base and network of relationships in the family and beyond with caring and capable people, including yourself.
Remember you are modeling stress management for your children, including problem-solving, controlling emotions, and getting help when it is needed.
Provide opportunities for children to experience smaller challenges so they gain skills and confidence to tackle the big ones later in life.
This year’s recipient is Laura Thomas, who focuses her research on eye tracking and MRI scans on infants. Thomas currently works with ICD Assistant Professor Jed Elison, Ph.D., in the Elison Lab for Developmental Brain and Behavior Research (ELAB). More recently, Thomas conducted research specifically on the amygdala, which is an area of the brain affected in adults with autism.
With the award, Thomas will receive a scholarship of $500 and up to $250 in travel/research funds. Below, Thomas shares more about her research and her experience in ICD.
What made you want to study child psychology or early childhood?
I actually decided to come to the U of M because of their reputation as one of the best developmental psychology programs for undergraduates and graduates in the nation. Working with and supporting children is something I have always wanted to do, I didn’t know my interests fell in psychology until taking an AP psych class in high school and being absolutely amazed at all the mysteries behind the brain. So finding a school that offered child psych as a major seemed like the perfect fit.
What kind of research are you involved in?
I have worked in Dr. Jed Elison’s lab (ELAB) since my freshman year. Within his lab I focus mainly on eye tracking and MRI scans on infants. I just finished my honors thesis, which was funded by the Autism Science Foundation. My research focuses specifically on the amygdala, an area of the brain known to be affected in adults with autism. My project studied the function of the amygdala during an eye tracking attention task in 145 toddlers to help better determine the biological basis of attention problems in young children – problems that may be responsive to early treatment.
What do you find most interesting about child development?
All of the mysteries surrounding the field! There will never be a lack of questions to ask and to me that is so fascinating. There is always more to learn. I am especially interested in social development and perceptual development in infants.
What are your plans for after graduation?
Great question! I plan on taking a year (or two) off to further narrow down what I would like to do. I will definitely be headed to graduate school. What kind of graduate school is still a mystery to me. Because of that, I want to keep my options open. I eventually do want to get my Ph.D. as well. That has always been a goal of mine.
How would you describe your experience at ICD?
My experience has been extremely worthwhile. I have been given opportunities that not many people my age get. I mean, what 21/22 year old can say they ran their own study start to finish? That’s pretty cool in my opinion. My education within ICD has been incredible too, I have been taught by some of the leading researchers in the field of developmental psychology and I have been exposed to cutting edge research. ICD has fully prepared me for the “real-world” and provided me with ample opportunities to have a successful career within the field of child psychology.
