THE SOCIAL EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. In this pilot investigation, we plan to focus on how three essential components involved in early socio-affective functioning -- attachment relations, temperament, and style of interactive behavior -- relate to distinct patterns of social behavior in children with Williams syndrom (WS), specifically, to empathic responsiveness in different contexts. We hypothesize that the roots of the unique empathy documented in people with WS lie in their atypical approach-behavior toward strangers, coupled with a disinhibited personality. Children with WS, aged between 30 and 42 months will be compared to age and developmental level-matched with Down Syndrome and to typically developing children matched on age, in assessments involving laboratory observations based on semi-structured activities with familiar and unfamiliar social partners (adults and peers), and questionnaires and interveiws with children's primary caregivers. Results of this investigation will provide preliminary data for a model of the developmental trajectory of social-affective functioning in WS, and may have implications for designing intervention strategies to enhance social skills in children with developmental disorders.