Research
For more information, please reach out to Dr. Jackson.
INTERGENERATIONAL ADVERSITY EXPOSURE AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Building on the research gained from Dr. Jackson’s Testing Determinates Resilience: Child Maltreatment and the Development of Adaptive Behavior grant, this project looks at the effects of intergenerational adversity exposure influences language input and child language output.This groundbreaking research is rare due to limited collaborations historically in the fields of psychology and speech language pathology. The aim of this project is to see the impact of adversity in parent and child language development. Further this project will look at the parental language use and its impact on child language development due to the influence of adversity on parental attachment, responsivity and sensitivity.
IMPLICATIONS OF PARENTAL INCARCERATION FOR CHILD HEALTH AND WELLBEING
This project investigates the impacts of maternal and paternal incarceration on children’s health and well-being from birth to young adulthood. This study constructs two statewide birth cohorts (children born 2000-2002 and 2009-2011, totaling approximately 400,000 children), allowing for assessment of health and development at all stages of childhood and into early adulthood. Developmental domains include physical and mental health, cognitive/educational outcomes, and (in adolescence and early adulthood) pregnancy and parenthood, criminal activity, educational attainment, and employment/earnings. We look at the impact of maternal and paternal incarceration on overall health and well-being, as well as looking at the disparities within the system due to socioeconomic factors and race. Finally, we will look at the environment of the child during and after the parental incarceration and how this impacts the wellbeing of the child.
CREATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SCHOLARS IN CHILD MALTREATMENT SCIENCE
Child maltreatment (CM) is a costly and significant public health problem affecting millions of youths and families each year. To date, no systematic training program exists that addresses the transdisciplinary scope nor the full nature of this complex problem. Consistent with the strategic aims of NICHD, the proposed CMT32 is designed to nurture and develop the next generation of transdisciplinary scholars who will devote their careers to CM science. Housed at Penn State, the CMT32 leverages the infrastructure, projects, and cores of the P50 Capstone Center “Translational Center for Child Maltreatment Studies (TCCMS)” as well as the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network (CMSN)—13 core program faculty across 5 Colleges from the fields of clinical child psychology, human development, sociology, biobehavioral health, pediatrics, educational psychology, nursing, and developmental psychology—to guide trainees in four topical training tracks: biological embedding, developmental processes, prevention and treatment, and policy, administrative data and systems research. In addition to immersion within and across substantive tracks, training in ethics, innovative methods, translation to policy and practice, and community engagement is emphasized. Aided by an experienced Advisory Board, the MPIs (Program Director of Training and Program Director of Research) along with training Track Leads and mentoring teams will execute a comprehensive training plan consisting of: coursework, seminars, immersion learning, research productivity, community engagement, training in responsible conduct, peer support, and policy activities. With devoted efforts to attract a diverse group of pre and post doc trainees, the CMT32 will prepare the next generation of scholars to transcending siloed approaches in favor of transdisciplinary team-science to solve to complex problem of CM.
PENN STATE’S TRANSLATIONAL CENTER FOR CHILD MALTREATMENT STUDIES-TCCMS
Child maltreatment (CM) (physical abuse, sexual abuse, and child neglect) is a pervasive public health problem with ~600,000 substantiated incidents annually, 12.5% of US children experiencing CM by age 18, and an annual incident economic burden of $428B.3. More than 32% of US children will have a Child Protective Service (CPS) report by age 12 and 3.5M children are 'screened in' for CPS investigations each year, with a growing body of research showing that even an investigation can have deleterious impacts on child development. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) entreated high quality, longitudinal research focused on pathways to long-term adjustment for survivors of CM with particular focus on neurobiological mechanisms that can be intervened upon with non-invasive, malleable, psychosocial and behaviors strategies to stave off deleterious health outcomes. Phase 1 responded by raising the bar on the quality of research through a prospective cohort study of children aged 8-13 that includes (1) repeated bio-psycho-social assessments of maltreated and control children, (2) the ability to control for confounds and establish pristine baselines on which to base strong inferences about the unique effects of CM, (3) mechanisms that illuminate how CM leads variable outcomes, and (4) the interplay between biological and behavioral mechanisms to facilitate novel targets for intervention and avenues for reversibility. Through community-based research Phase 1 also engaged end-users and policy-makers at the local, state, and federal levels to mobilize system-wide change.
Phase 2 provides continuity in the cutting-edge, observational cohort study (Project 1) to, in turn, fill a critical gap in CM research—namely, variable pathways into and through the transition to adulthood. A new project extends promising models of practice to expand access to high-quality forensic evaluations for suspected CM. The Dissemination and Outreach Core (DOC) will continue community-engaged research with established county and state partners to elevate data-driven, practice- relevant solutions. The Admin Core will elevate TCCMS-developed primary CM prevention efforts and training opportunities as well as the Research to Policy Collaboration (RPC) model to national prominence thus mobilizing larger public investment in CM prevention and intervention. A comprehensive communications plan implemented by the Resource Core will facilitate the TCCMS as a frequented gateway of scientific, practice, and policy information for the public and the field.
TRAUMA EXPOSURE, EMOTION REGULATION AND COGNITIVE SKILLS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD: PROSPECTIVE AND LONGITUDINAL EXAMINATION OF THE MECHANISMS OF ADJUSTMENT
Exposure to trauma in youth is an important public health issue. As many as 45% of youth will experience one or more significant and non-normative trauma before the age of five. Of those, 65% will demonstrate clinical levels of impairment or delay in their social, emotional, or behavioral health, at some point during development placing them at risk for lifelong maladjustment and health problems. However, not all youth exposed to even the same kind of trauma develop the same kind of pathology, and some show no signs of pathology at all. The proposed project is important, as it is the first to demonstrate how specific characteristics of trauma (i.e., chronic, acute), specific systems in the child (i.e., emotion regulation, cognitive skills), and parental response interact to predict outcome. This is critical because the field will not be able to develop effective protocols for helping early childhood-aged youth exposed to trauma unless the process by which the child, the event, and the child’s caretaker interact is clear and to date, this process has yet to be illuminated. Using a social-developmental theoretical framework, the proposed study will provide first-time evidence via a prospective and longitudinal approach to answer the question of the nature of the pattern between pre- trauma functioning, trauma exposure, and post-trauma emotional regulation (ER) and cognitive skills (CS) that may explain the multifinality of mental health responses in youth. Most importantly, the project, will include youths’ pre-baseline trauma exposure, ER and CS as early as they can be reliably assessed in young children to determine the actual contribution of chronic and acute trauma exposure on youth mental health.
TESTING DETERMINATES RESILIENCE: CHILD MALTREATMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADAPTIVE BEHAVIOR
Exposure to maltreatment is a pervasive major life event that possess a tremendous mental health risk for children. Although reducing incidences of maltreatment is clearly an important goal, focusing research on how children adjust to the potentially deleterious effects of such major life events is equally important. The proposed study addresses this need by contrasting two long- standing yet opposing theories (the role of resources vs. the role of context) regarding the potential moderation of the link between major life events, appraisal, and child outcomes. In addition, the proposed study will examine the relative importance and possible mediating role of two key facets in the link between major life events and mental health (appraisal valence and coping flexibility). Because children exposed to maltreatment experience more major life events than typical children, they are a rich population to study. Findings from this study will help elucidate both our basic-science understanding of the relation between experiencing major stressors, appraisal, and psychological outcome and our intervention-minded awareness of possible mechanisms for resilience and positive adjustment. The broader impacts of this research will generalize beyond maltreated youth and help inform intervention efforts targeting all children exposed to major life events.
Laboratory Collaborations
Kathryn Grant, DePaul University
Claire Selin, Boystown Research Hospital
Violence Prevention Institute, Tulane University