EARLY CHILDHOOD AGGRESSION AND INFANT-PARENT ATTUNEMENT

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DESCRIPTION: The overall aim of this grant proposal is to enhance the applicant's skills in patient-oriented clinical research in the area of infant psychiatry (early childhood socio-emotional and behavioral problems and problems of infant- parent relationships). The candidate's broad career goals are: 1) to conduct ethical, responsible, high-quality clinical research in the area of infant psychiatry; 2) to integrate multidisciplinary infant research into research and clinical activities in the field of psychiatry in an academic setting; 3) to participate in education of trainees in the area of infant research. At the end of the award period, the candidate expects: 1) to possess the capacities necessary to be an independent investigator in clinical infant research; 2) to become a leader in the field of infant psychiatry; 3) to receive funding as an independent investigator. To achieve these goals, the candidate proposes to complete a comprehensive program that includes didactic courses and mentored work on a research project. The didactic part of the proposal includes participation in seminars, workshops, tutorials, and postdoctoral and graduate courses on behavioral research, biostatistics, epidemiology, responsible conduct of research, child development, and psychophysiology. The research focus of the proposal is early childhood aggression and infant-parent behavioral and physiologic attunement. The objectives of the study are: 1) to examine the contribution of individual maternal and infant factors and factors related to the infant-mother relationship to infant aggression and heart rate reactivity to stress at the age of 12 and 24 months; 2) to examine continuity and change in infant aggression and heart rate reactivity to stress over a period from 12 to 24 months of age. This multidisciplinary project, which involves poor minority adolescent families, will be accomplished with guidance and supervision of the leading specialists in childhood aggression, infant research, and psychophysiology. Stanford University, the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, the laboratory of the candidate's mentor, the Stanford GCRC, and the Mary Johnson Infant Development Center will provide academic envirorunent and resources to accomplish the proposed training and research plan.