Sample of Research Projects
Human beings are an exceptionally social with a strong need to belong and an even stronger aversion to rejection (or ostracism or exclusion). Rejection is experienced by almost everyone, and when it does occur, the experience is typically quite distressing with potentially serious implications (Leary, 2001). Importantly, Downey and colleagues argue that early, prolonged or acute experiences of rejection by valued others, such as parents or peers, can give rise to rejection sensitivity (RS) -- a tendency for an individual to anxiously expect rejection, readily perceive it and overreact (Downey & Feldman, 1996; Feldman & Downey, 1994). Research has now identified RS in older children, adolescents and adults, and that it occurs in the same proportions across genders and ages (Downey & Feldman, 1996; Zimmer-Gembeck & Vickers, 2007). Of critical importance are findings indicating that RS has negative cognitive, emotional and behavioural consequences over and above the impact of actual rejection experiences (e.g., Sandstrom et al, 2003), including anger and hostility, despondency, social withdrawal, loneliness, depression, aggression, dating violence, and relationship breakdown (Levy et al., 2001; Watson & Nesdale, 2008; Zimmer-Gembeck & Wright, 2007). Further, Australian (Zimmer-Gembeck & Vickers, 2007) and USA (Downey & Feldman, 1996) research indicates that RS can occur in 20% or more of the population.
The aims of the present project are to:
- determine whether children in middle childhood through early adolescence develop RS and to identify the critical social experiences and individual factors contributing to its development.
- isolate the major effects of RS on children and early adolescents, including cognitive, emotional and behavioural responses and mental health outcomes.
- shed light on the nature of the mechanism(s) underpinning the development of RS in children and adolescents.
- develop and test an intervention that will enhance children’s and adolescents’ coping and resilience when confronted with social rejection, thus promoting a healthier start to life, and extending their capacity to form stronger and more stable relationships.
Research on coping during childhood and adolescence belongs to a rich set of literatures examining how children are affected by stress and adversity. Coping research is distinguished by its focus on how children deal with actual stressors in real-life contexts, and how the effects of these episodes accumulate. Despite burgeoning literatures within age groups, studies on age differences and changes across developmental levels have proven resistant to integration. Two recent advances promise progress toward a developmental framework. First, a variety of dual process models based on the notion of coping as “regulation under stress” establish links between coping and the normative development of emotional, attentional, and behavioral self-regulation as well as suggest constitutional underpinnings and social factors that shape the development of coping. Second, analyses of higher-order coping categories have converged on about a dozen families whose overarching functions can be used to identify corresponding lower-order ways of coping that, despite their apparent differences, are developmentally-graded members of the same family. This analysis can help identify shifts common across families, and suggests that general mechanisms of coping may accumulate developmentally, for example, starting with stress responses guided by reflexes during the neonatal period, and adding regulation via action schemes during infancy, supplemented by coping through direct action during preschool age, coping using cognitive means during middle childhood, and coping using meta-cognitive means during adolescence. Together, these advances sketch the outlines of a multi-level systems perspective on the development of coping as including both the successive differentiation of responses to different demands (e.g., novelty, failure, delay, separation) and the integration of regulatory subsystems, potentially allowing coping to become more flexible, organized, cooperative, and autonomous across childhood and adolescence.
A series of studies are underway to test these theoretical and expand previous research on chidlren’s coping and emotion regulation.
Two experiments will be conducted to investigate two factors that potentially influence the transition from binary- to ternary-relational processing in 4- and 5-year-old normally developing children. These factors are the efficiency of children’s binary-relational processing and the explicitness of their binary-relational representations.
The aims of this project are to examine (a) sexuality, sexual risk behaviour, perceptions and relationships and (b) qualities of relationships and sociocultural factors associated with later sexual health, well-being and positive interpersonal functioning. Two gaps in research will be filled. First, current understanding of sexual risk behaviour will be complimented by an understanding of normal, healthy sexual development. Second, sexual health will be studies as both behaviour and the way that young people think and feel about their sexual and relational lives.
Harsh disciplinary strategies and psychological unavailability (i.e., child maltreatment) are associated with insecure caregiver-child attachment relationships, and are linked with children’s behaviour problems, psychopathology, and problem relationships. In fact, recent longitudinal evidence shows the intergenerational transmission of problems that follows from insecure caregiver-child attachments, with children growing up to have insecure attachments with partners and their children.1 It is critical to intervene early to reduce hostile parent-child interactions and support the development of positive caregiver-child interactions and secure attachment relationships. One way to improve parent-child attachment is to increase caregivers’ sensitivity to their young children’s behaviours and emotions.2 Within the Gold Coast region there are few programs with this aim and there are few services for caregivers who have children age 1 to 3 years. The current proposed research project is a trial of Parent-Child Connection (PCC), an intervention founded in attachment theory that has been developed within The Family Interaction Program (FIP) to fill this gap. The aim of PCC is to improve parent-child attachment and decrease child maltreatment. Through our previous work, we have developed innovative techniques that are the foundation of PCC. These techniques will assist parents to understand the behavioural and emotional cues of their young children, while also working to decrease parental stress, add to parenting skills, and decrease maltreatment. Using random assignment and following Consort guidelines, the project will be delivered to 30 caregivers at risk of child maltreatment with another 30 caregivers placed in a supported waitlist control condition. From our experience and the research evidence, we know that participants will have insecure attachment relationships and children will display behavioural and/or emotional problems. Data will be collected prior to program involvement and after 12 weeks. Changes in attachment, caregiver sensitivity, caregiver-child interactions, stress, parenting efficacy, and caregiver well-being will be assessed, and the treatment and waitlist groups will be compared on all measures.
The funding provided by the Rotary Health Research Fund is being used to evaluate the 12-week Parent-Child Connection program with 30 families who are risk of child maltreatment as compared to 30 families on a 12-week support waitlist. There are seven (7) primary aims of the research project and Parent-Child Connection.
- To provide an effective program that can be easily implemented with caregivers and their young children ages 1 to 3. This will fill a significant age gap in community services.
- To increase caregiver sensitivity and availability by enhancing carer responsiveness to the child’s behavioural and emotional cues and reactions.
- To improve and strengthen caregiver-child attachment relationships through the development of more trusting and nurturing caregiver-child interactions.
- To increase caregivers’ understanding of child needs and abilities.
- To increase caregiver self-efficacy by fostering appropriate parent-child interaction and child management skills.
- To reduce child abuse potential and risk of maltreatment by facilitating the development of positive parenting strategies.
- To reduce caregiver stress through skills acquisition, enhancing maternal sensitivity, increasing awareness of child development and fostering social support networks.
Relational aggression includes intentional acts that hurt others via their relationships. Harm is expected to be the motivation for relational aggression, but little research has examined the “whys.” Also, measures of relational aggression may include behaviors that are more commonly found among females than males. Using a variety of methods, I aim to develop a more gender-balanced measure that assesses both the particular behaviors and the “whys” of relational aggression among adolescents. The outcome will be measures that will further our research on the development of aggression and rejection/exclusion, and improve our capacity to reduce these behaviors among young people.
In short, the aims of the present pilot research are to –
- Use interviews and observations to guide the development and piloting of a new peer report measure of relational aggression that is valid and reliable among boys and girls (ages 11 to 15).
- Examine the convergent validity of this peer report measure by comparing the measure to an existing peer nomination measure of relational aggression and a self-report measure.
- Gather information about motivation for relational aggression from girls and boys of various ages.
- Develop and test items that assess a variety of reasons for relationally aggressive behavior.
This research project involves young people with mental health and substance use problems receiving treatment in a residential therapeutic community.
The research aims are:
- to implement Motivational Interviewing training for the clinical staff
- to improve the mental health and substance-use related problems of young residential clients by implementing an MI-integrated treatment program
- to evaluate mental health, treatment engagement, retention and other treatment outcomes resulting from the integration of MI techniques and strategies with standard treatment
- to evaluate the effectiveness of the MI-integrated treatment by comparing outcomes with measures obtained in a previous treatment outcome evaluation (Klag et al)
- to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program (videos of training sessions and some counselling sessions) in order to assess uniformity and adherence/competence across clinical staff.
Grant; Group Processes and Children's Aggression
The significance of the present pilot project is that it will underpin a 2005 ARC Discovery grant on children’s aggression - a relatively common behaviour yet one with devastating effects for the targets. The proposed research project focuses on the delineation of the effects of group membership on different types of aggression by children who differ in age and gender. Although group membership is very important and meaningful to young children, its impact in facilitating children’s aggression has received little research attention. Support for the present research will greatly strengthen our ARC application because it will enable the development of new paradigms and materials which are critical to that research.
The proposed research
- Examines the development of direct and relational aggression of both boys and girls during the primary school years
- Assesses the extent to which children’s aggression is influenced by group processes such as group identification, group norms, and the nature of group membership.
- Determines the degree to which the impact of group processes is moderated by individual difference variables such as social self-esteem and interpersonal empathy.
- Provides valuable new insights into possible areas for interventions by teachers and parents designed to reduce childhood aggression.
Grant; The “Whats” and “Whys” of Relational Aggression: A Gender-Balanced Assessment of Relational Aggression among Adolescents
Summary: Relational aggression involves harm to relationships. Harm or retaliation is expected to be the main motivation for adolescents’ relational aggression, but little is known about the “whys” of these behaviors. Using a variety of methods, we will develop new measures of the whats and whys of relational aggression for adolescents. The outcome will be measures that are necessary for furthering our research program on the development of aggression and rejection/exclusion and advancing programs for schools and others who are managing these behaviors.
More Details: After the recent publication of a chapter in the book Girls and Aggression (Geiger, Zimmer-Gembeck, & Crick, 2004), one of us (MZG) received a call from a school counselor on the Gold Coast. She was desperately trying to gather information about what she could do to reduce the teasing, backstabbing, manipulation of friendships and exclusion between groups of females at her high school. Groups of girls had become so embroiled in hurting each other through these methods that the sense of community at the school was in danger, victims of the aggression were emotionally distraught and some students felt they had no choice but to transfer to another school. What was to be done? It was suggested that the school start a campaign to improve the awareness of the problem at the school. This campaign should gather advice from students and involve influential students, teachers and parents. Yet, it was difficult to draw from the literature in order to give more specific information or provide materials about (a) how this should be done to be most effective, (b) how to intervene without targeting only certain individuals, females only, and/or assuming too much about the behaviours that were most problematic, (c) how to provide age appropriate interventions that would attract the attention of young people, and (d) how to develop messages that did not oversimplify the problem (e.g., “don’t gossip and tease others”, “let’s all just get along”).
The development, implementation and testing of an intervention that involves increasing student awareness, and relies upon student, teacher and parent interaction will be the focus of our large ARC and NH&MRC in 2006. In the areas of physical aggression and bullying, an intervention that increased the awareness of the problem in the school was shown to be an effective first step toward reducing aggression (Olweus, 1994). This intervention informed teachers and parents that physical aggression and victimization are serious problems plaguing schools. We will propose that this will be the most promising initial approach when managing other forms of aggression in the school environment, such as those described above. However, before we can design and implement a randomized-controlled trial of an intervention project of this magnitude, we must have the information about the range of problematic behaviours (the “whats”) that occur between individuals and groups in primary and secondary schools. Additionally, we need to gather more information about the reasons “why” these behaviours occur, so that any information or awareness campaign can address the underlying intra-individual and social reasons for problem behaviours. Finally, we currently do not have gender-balanced (i.e., equally valid and reliable for females and males) measures to assess these behaviours and the reasons for these behaviours. We will need these measures to examine change from pre- to post-intervention.
Project Summary
Adolescence and early adulthood are times of forming basic foundations in love and work. Romantic relationships emerge and form part of a progression of close relationships; bridging between family and committed adult relationships. Dating can consume the thoughts of young people, and this becomes a potential source of stress and support in their lives. In the proposed prospective study, links between adolescent romantic relationships and youth psychosocial functioning with be examined within a model of relational vulnerability and positive adaptation. This model will significantly increase understanding of intraindividual and social problems, and effective strategies for the promotion healthy adolescent functioning.
Research Goals
The research project proposed in this application has two primary goals:
- Based on theories of Erikson (1968) and Sullivan (1953), and empirical studies founded upon a stress model of child depression (Rudolph & Hammen, 1999), the first goal is to identify the experiences that young people have in romantic relationships including indices of involvement (e.g., dating history, current behaviours), recent romantic problems (e.g., loss, rejection, maltreatment), and positive and negative qualities in romantic relationships (e.g., commitment, support, companionship, psychological control), and to examine the impact of these different aspects of relationships on psychosocial health, well-being and competence.
- The second goal also draws from diverse theories including a stress model of child depression, a developmental-contextual model of romantic relationships in adolescence (Brown, 1999), and social cognitive theory (Downey et al., 1998) to investigate whether adolescents are more vulnerable to romantic problems or gain more benefits from positive romantic experiences depending on their age, gender, individual vulnerabilities and competencies, and social support from friends (both same- and opposite-sex friends) and family.
Overview:
The initiation of romantic relationships is considered a developmental task of adolescence. Yet, there has been little research on romantic relationships and the interface of these relationships with existing social networks of adolescents. This research study gathers information about relationships with parents, boyfriends/girlfriends and friendships from young people about age 14 to 18 (9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades). In addition, information on functioning (depression, loneliness, anxiety) and autonomy (emotional autonomy and level of voice in relationships) is being be collected. A number of research questions will be answered with this information. First, we will determine whether the quality of parent-adolescent relationships and relationships with friends influence the onset and quality of romantic relationships. Second, we will describe parents’ knowledge of and rules about dating, differences in knowledge and rules that occur as adolescents get older, and investigate whether parents’ knowledge and rules about dating are associated with other qualities of parent-adolescent relationships and dating behavior. Third, we will focus on how adolescent functioning and autonomy are affected by dating behavior. In particular, we will examine how the quality of dating relationships, parent-adolescent relationships, and friendships contribute to adolescent depression, loneliness, and anxiety, and we will examine the development of autonomy with parents, boyfriends/girlfriends and friends by comparing adolescents of different age.
Research Questions:
- Does the quality of parent-adolescent relationships influence the development of dating relationships (onset and quality)?
- Does the quality of relationships with friends influence the development of dating relationships (onset and quality)?
- How much knowledge and communication do parents have with their adolescents about dating relationships? Does knowledge and communication with parents change as adolescents grow older?
- Is parent knowledge and parent-adolescent communication about dating affected by the quality of relationships that adolescents have with their boyfriends/girlfriends?
Overview
This two year longitudinal study integrates neurological, cognitive, psychosocial and environmental factors that have been identified as influencing the development of reading and related achievements (e.g., academic success, motivation and goal-setting) in childhood. The primary aim is to understand the development of children’s reading skills, academic motivation, future aspirations and related achievements by examining the roles of brain processing, knowledge of language, social environment, and self-perceptions of competence. These are the foundation years of a planned prospective study that will follow the development of these children from Grade 7 to age 19 (at least 1-year following secondary school for most participants). Funding has been received for grade 7 and 8 assessments
Specific Research Aims
- To evaluate the baseline functional reading skills of 250 year 7 students using a range of literacy measures.
- To determine children’s perceived reading skills, and examine discrepancies between actual and perceived skills.
- To determine parents' perceptions of their children’s literacy/reading skills, and examine discrepancies between actual skills and parents' perceptions.
- To investigate the antecedents of the development of reading skills including (1) neurological processing deficits; (2) children’s cognitive ability/functioning (e.g., IQ), (3) gender; (4) family history; (5) parents’ beliefs, expectations and attitudes toward reading and achievement; (6) children’s perceptions of control and perceived competence; and (7) school climate and children's relationships with teachers.
- To examine the impact of actual and perceived reading difficulties (and discrepancies between actual and perceived abilities) on (1) children’s motivations, and short-term and long-term achievement-related goals (e.g., life and career interests and goals) and (2) general achievement.
- To determine whether environmental and psychosocial factors affect biological (familial history of reading difficulties, or temporal processing difficulties) and cognitive (e.g. phonological processing problems) functioning.
- To investigate gender differences in the integrated model predicting reading performance, motivation, academic achievements, and goals/aspirations.
U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Contract Number: 290-97-0018, Task Order No. 7, 18 months, US$250,000.