Child and Family Development in the First Two Decades of

国家儿童健康和人类发展研究所比较行为学实验室的儿童和家庭研究科（CFRS）调查了在生命的前二十年中有助于人类身体，心理，情感和社会发展的性格，经验和环境因素。CFRS的研究目标是描述、分析和评估（a）发育中儿童的能力和倾向，包括他们的生理功能、感知和认知能力、情感和社会成长以及互动风格;（B）家庭和社会世界中儿童和父母互动的性质和后果;及（c）对儿童接触自然及设计环境及与自然及设计环境互动的发展的影响。研究主题涉及的起源，地位和发展的不同心理结构，结构，功能和过程中的头二十年的生活;儿童的特点和活动对父母的影响;和变化的意义在养育和家庭在不同的社会人口和文化群体。实验室和家庭为基础的研究采用了各种方法，包括心理生理记录，实验技术，行为观察，标准化评估，评级量表，访谈和人口统计/人口普查记录在纵向和横断面设计。正在调查的社会人口比较包括家庭社会经济地位、产妇年龄和就业状况、儿童均等和日托经验。文化研究地点包括阿根廷、澳大利亚、比利时、巴西、喀麦隆、加拿大、智利、英国、法国、以色列、意大利、日本、肯尼亚、秘鲁、大韩民国以及美国;在所有地方，文化内以及跨文化的比较都是追求的。设立儿童和家庭研究科的主要目的是启动一项调查方案，研究人类成长条件的变化如何影响发展。 CFRS还开展了广泛的神经科学和行为儿科学研究计划，调查儿童发育，生物学和健康界面的问题。童年是一个脆弱的时期（事故，冒险），因为它是形成习惯的发展和决策（营养，锻炼）的平衡寿命。这项研究有几个方面，包括胎儿的生长和发育及其对产后表现的预测有效性，迷走神经功能在心理发育中的作用，早产后的发育和功能，耳聋对儿童发育和家庭生活的影响，子宫内可卡因暴露后的发育，婴儿期癌症和手术的发育后遗症，儿童的知识，实施，评估应对压力性医疗干预的策略，以及母亲抑郁对儿童发育和养育的影响。 为了满足这一多方面的指控，CFRS已经进行了三个综合的多元文化，多元，多年龄的研究计划，并辅以各种辅助调查。这些研究计划代表了一个整体的努力。第一个项目是一项前瞻性纵向研究，旨在探索主要社会人口比较背景下儿童发展的多个方面。第二个方案拓宽了第一个方案的视野，在同一个基本纵向框架内涵盖了文化对发展的影响。第三个程序是由这个基础研究的应用扩展到神经科学和行为儿科学。这些研究项目的最终目标直接涉及促进意识，健康和积极的儿童，作为一个有希望的结局，他们将成长为知识渊博，健康和快乐的成年人。

The Child and Family Research Section (CFRS) in the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development investigates dispositional, experiential, and environmental factors that contribute to physical, mental, emotional, and social development in human beings during the first two decades of life. The research goals of the CFRS are to describe, analyze, and assess (a) the capabilities and proclivities of developing children, including their physiological functioning, perceptual and cognitive abilities, emotional and social growth, and interactional styles; (b) the nature and consequences of interactions within the family and the social world for children and parents; and (c) influences on development of children's exposure to and interactions with the natural and designed environment. Research topics concern the origins, status, and development of diverse psychological constructs, structures, functions, and processes in the first two decades of life; effects of child characteristics and activities on parents; and the meaning of variations in parenting and in the family across different sociodemographic and cultural groups. Laboratory and home-based studies employ a variety of approaches, including psychophysiological recordings, experimental techniques, behavioral observations, standardized assessments, rating scales, interviews, and demographic/census records in both longitudinal and cross-sectional designs. Sociodemographic comparisons under investigation include family SES, maternal age and employment status, and child parity and daycare experience. Cultural study sites include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, England, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Peru, the Republic of South Korea, as well as the United States; in all places, intra-cultural as well as cross-cultural comparisons are pursued. The Child and Family Research Section was established with the broad aim of initiating an investigative program on the ways in which development is affected by variations in the conditions under which human beings are reared. The CFRS also conducts a broad program of research in neuroscience and behavioral pediatrics that investigates questions at the interface of child development, biology, and health. Childhood is a time of vulnerability (to accidents, in risk taking), as it is formative in habit development and decision making (nutrition, exercise) for the balance of the life span. This research has several facets, including fetal growth and development and their predictive validity for postnatal performance, the role of vagal function in psychological development, development and function following preterm birth, the impact of deafness on child development and family life, development after in utero cocaine exposure, the developmental sequelae of cancer and surgery in infancy, children's knowledge, implementation, and evaluation of strategies for coping with stressful medical interventions, and effects of maternal depression on child development and parenting. To meet this multifaceted charge, the CFRS has undertaken three integrated multicultural, multivariate, multiage research programs that are supplemented by a variety of ancillary investigations. These research programs represent an en bloc effort. The first program is a prospective longitudinal study designed to explore multiple aspects of child development in the context of major sociodemographic comparisons. The second program broadens the perspectives of the first to encompass cultural influences on development within the same basic longitudinal framework. The third program is composed of applied extensions of this basic research into neuroscience and behavioral pediatrics. The ultimate aims of these research programs are concerned directly with promoting aware, fit, and motivated children who, as a hopeful eventuality, willl grow into knowledgeable, healthy, and happy adults.