Promoting positive social-emotional pathways: A translational research program

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究的总体目标是促进儿童的社会情感发展的积极，适应性途径，并防止从婴儿期到青春期的适应不良途径。我们的基础研究旨在解释为什么有些孩子走上了走向成熟良知的积极发展道路，包括适当的道德情感，亲社会，内化，遵守规则的行为，以及在家庭和更广泛的生态系统中发挥作用时强大的社会情感能力，以及为什么其他孩子进入适应不良的道路，走向麻木不仁，无视规则和他人的感受，破坏性，反社会，高风险行为，能力差，社会情感发展贫乏。虽然父母社会化的作用得到广泛承认，但其对个别儿童的影响的具体机制尚不清楚。在这项研究中，早期亲子互动定向（MRO）被认为是促进积极的长期社会情感结果的一个强大因素。在MRO的背景下，社会化成为一个共享的，互惠的亲子企业，孩子成为一个积极的，接受的，愿意参与者，渴望拥抱父母的目标和价值观。因此，父母可以放弃使用令人厌恶的，严厉的控制。这项研究进一步阐明了社会化过程是如何紧密交织在一起的，其结果取决于个体儿童的生物个性。我们正在进行的102个社区母亲，父亲和孩子的纵向家庭研究支持这个模型，使用大量的数据收集时，儿童7，15，25，38，52，67，80和96个月。建议在10-11岁、12-13岁和14-15岁进行新的评估，以检查在向青春期的关键过渡期间早期MRO的影响。我们的转化研究，游戏研究，一个正在进行的，理论知情的，随机育儿干预与186低收入，不同的母亲-幼儿二人组，促进早期母子MRO，从而促进社会化的道路，导致积极的儿童结果。在干预前、干预期间、干预后立即和干预后6个月收集数据。一项拟议中的7-8岁新评估将在儿童向学校的关键过渡之后测试其长期影响。这项工作是重要的，因为这两项研究是协同和平行的目标，结构和措施，但互补的设计和人口，并采用大规模的，多方法，多特质，多评估，多信息的措施，儿童的基因型，心理生理学，气质，行为和情感，良心，全面评估的能力和功能，亲子关系，父母的适应和家庭生态。跨学科团队包括社会情感发展、青春期、发展性精神病理学、母亲适应、干预科学、分子遗传学和统计学方面的专家。一个创新的，统一的理论框架整合了这两项研究。分析阐明了随着时间的推移，发展轨迹，过程和因果机制连接结构（调解）和多个因果途径（适度），使用结构方程模型（SEM）的分歧的变化。 公共卫生相关性：促进国家儿童积极、适应性的社会情感发展是一个关键的公共卫生目标。我们的纵向，基础研究阐明了为什么有些孩子走上了积极的道路，走向强大的能力，亲社会，遵守规则，生产功能和强大的社会情感发展，而其他孩子则进入反社会的道路，走向能力低下，无视规则，冷酷无情，破坏性和高风险行为，以及贫困的社会情感发展。一个相互回应的早期亲子关系，与孩子的生物个性交织在一起，是从婴儿期到青春期成功的社会情感路径的关键。我们的理论知情的转化研究，一个随机的实验性育儿干预，促进成功的社会情感结果，并降低低收入，种族多样化的母亲和幼儿的发展风险。总的来说，这项研究对有效的育儿，干预和预防计划具有广泛的影响，这些计划可以增强儿童的社会情感成长，减少儿童，家庭和社会因负面，破坏性的发展轨迹而造成的沉重负担。.

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overarching aim of this research is to promote children's positive, adaptive pathways of socio-emotional development and to prevent maladaptive pathways from infancy to adolescence. Our basic research seeks to explain why some children embark on positive developmental paths toward a mature conscience that encompasses appropriate moral emotions, prosocial, internalized, rule-abiding conduct, and robust socio- emotional competence when functioning in the family and broader ecologies, and why other children enter maladaptive paths toward callousness, disregard for rules and others' feelings, disruptive, antisocial, high-risk behavior, poor competence, and impoverished socio-emotional growth. Although the role of parental socialization is broadly acknowledged, specific mechanisms of its impact for individual children are not yet understood. In this research, early parent-child Mutually Responsive Orientation (MRO) is proposed as a powerful factor promoting positive long-term socio-emotional outcomes. In the context of MRO, socialization becomes a shared, reciprocal parent-child enterprise, and the child becomes an active, receptive, and willing participant, eager to embrace parental goals and values. Consequently, the parent can relinquish the use of aversive, heavy-handed control. This research further elucidates how socialization processes are strongly interwoven with, and their outcomes dependent on the individual child's biological individuality. Our ongoing longitudinal Family Study of 102 community mothers, fathers and children has supported this model using massive data collected when children were 7, 15, 25, 38, 52, 67, 80, and 96 months. New assessments are proposed at 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15 years, to examine implications of early MRO during the critical transition to adolescence. Our translational research, Play Study, an ongoing, theory-informed, randomized parenting intervention with 186 low-income, diverse mother-toddler dyads, fosters early mother-child MRO, and thus promotes socialization paths leading to positive child outcomes. Data are collected before, throughout, immediately after and 6 months after the intervention. A proposed new assessment at age 7-8 will test its long-term impact following the children's key transition to school. This work is significant because both studies are synergistic and parallel regarding aims, constructs, and measures, but complementary regarding designs and populations, and employ massive, multi-method, multi-trait, multi-assessment, multi-informant measures of children's genotypes, psychophysiology, temperament, behavior and emotions, conscience, comprehensively assessed competencies and functioning, parent-child relationships, and parents' adjustment and family ecology. Interdisciplinary team includes experts in socio-emotional development, adolescence, developmental psychopathology, maternal adjustment, intervention science, molecular genetics, and statistics. An innovative, unified theoretical framework integrates both studies. Analyses elucidate changes over time, divergence in developmental trajectories, processes and causal mechanisms linking constructs (mediation), and multiple causal pathways (moderation), using structural equations modeling (SEM). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Promoting positive, adaptive socio-emotional development of the Nation's children is a key public health goal. Our longitudinal, basic research elucidates why some children embark on positive paths toward strong competence, prosocial, rule-abiding, productive functioning, and robust socio-emotional growth, whereas other children enter antisocial paths toward poor competence, disregard for rules, callousness, disruptive and high- risk behaviors, and impoverished socio-emotional growth. A mutually responsive early parent-child relationship, interwoven with the child's biological individuality, is key to successful socio-emotional paths from infancy to adolescence. Our theory-informed translational research, a randomized experimental parenting intervention, promotes successful socio-emotional outcomes and reduces developmental risks in low-income, ethnically diverse mothers and young children. Overall, this research has broad implications for effective parenting, intervention, and prevention programs that enhance children's socio-emotional growth and reduce profound burdens for children, families, and society due to negative, disruptive developmental trajectories. .