Penn State receives a five-year, nearly $6 million grant to study factors promoting early childhood development
Oct 18, 2021
The effects of genetics, home environment, and prenatal substance use on child health and brain development are largely unknown, even though pregnancy and early childhood are incredibly important periods of growth. To address this knowledge gap, Penn State was recently awarded a five-year, $5.8…
Parent behaviors supporting children's independence vary by family risk
Oct 28, 2020
Parental responses that support children’s independence are less common in families facing more risk factors. This may be true regardless of whether parents are responding to children’s on- or off-task behavior, according to Penn State researchers. According to Catherine Diercks, doctoral candidate…
Protocols to make data on kids secure, shareable eventually may help families
Sep 30, 2020
Researchers in developmental psychology face a perplexing challenge: They know that collecting and sharing data about children can lead to real benefits for kids and their families, but they also recognize that some kinds of data like video or audio recordings risk violating the privacy of these…
How Siblings’ Gender Can Affect a Child’s Development
Mar 11, 2020
When you talk about sibling issues, everyone takes it personally. Whether it’s birth order and the supposed advantages of being the oldest (or youngest, or middle), or the question of having (or being) the favorite child, people tend to respond immediately with their own sometimes very individual…
Webinar recording on environment and children's health
Feb 20, 2018
The University-Based Child and Family Policy Consortium, in collaboration with the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), recently hosted a webinar on Environmental Influences on Children’s Health and Development. To watch a recording of the webinar, please click here to view it on SRCD’…News Topics: Child Development
Baby brains help them figure it out before they try it out
Jan 17, 2018
Babies often amaze their parents when they seemingly learn new skills overnight — how to walk, for example. But their brains were probably prepping for those tasks long before their first steps occurred, according to researchers. Researchers are using new statistical analysis methods to compare how…