2011-12 Child Study Center Speaker Series
The Child Study Center is proud to present a series of distinguished speakers on topics related to child and adolescent development. Each annual series begins with the Child Study Center's Lois Bloom lecture, featuring a nationally recognized scholar. Please check back periodically for updated information.
Child Study Center, 101M University Support Building
Dr. Michael F. Lorber
Family Translational Research Group, New York University
"Mothers' Emotion, Social Cognition, and Psychophysiology: Multiple Processes Related to Discipline Practices"
Abstract: Understanding the processes that may cause overly harsh/overreactive and lax/permissive discipline is important both from the perspective of better understanding the family dynamics that influence child development, and from the perspective of identifying new clinical targets in parenting interventions for child behavior problems. My colleagues and I have conducted several studies to explicate some of these processes. The overarching thesis of this work is that mothers’ discipline is in part due to how they think, feel, and physiologically respond during discipline encounters. In the present talk, I will describe our past and present research on mothers’ experienced emotion, objectively and subjectively measured emotion regulation, biases in appraising child behavior, and different measures of physiological reactivity. We have found these factors to be powerful, often replicable, and often interrelated predictors of discipline practices, particularly overreactive discipline.
The Nittany Lion Inn
Penn State’s 19th Annual National Symposium on Family Issues
"Families and Child Health"
Co-Sponsored with the College of the Liberal Arts, The College of Health and Human Development,
and The Population Research Institute
http://www.pop.psu.edu/events/2011/nsfi/penn-states-19th-annual-symposium-on-family-issues
The Nittany Lion Inn, Alumni Lounge
Co-Sponsored with the Prevention Research Center
Dr. Matthew Sanders
Professor of Clinical Psychology & Director, Parenting and Family Support Centre
School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Australia
"Parenting Interventions for Complex Problems"
Abstract: Although parenting programs have an important role to play in the prevention of behavioral and emotional problems in children, they also are critically important in the treatment of a wide range of complex psychological and health problems. This presentation provides an overview of recent developments in the use of behavioral family interventions based on the Triple P-Positive Parenting Program in the treatment of children's complex mental health problems. These problems include the parenting of children with specific clinical diagnoses (e.g., anxiety, depression, conduct disorders, feeding disorders), children experiencing difficult life transitions or adverse life experiences (e.g., separation and divorce of a parent, parenting after natural disaster), and children with chronic health problems or illnesses (asthma, obesity). The role of parenting in the treatment of adult mental problems is also considered. We will also consider parenting from a lifespan perspective. The design of a flexible, consumer-informed, theoretically explicit framework based on parental self-regulation will be discussed. Research and practice implications will be considered.
Dr. Sanders is also presenting the BENNETT LECTURE
Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 4:00 p.m.
The Nittany Lion Inn, Boardroom 1
"Making a Public Health Approach to Parenting Support Really Work"
The Nittany Lion Inn Boardroom 1
Reception to follow in Boardroom 2
The 2011 Child Study Center's Annual Lois Bloom Lecture
Dr. Megan Gunnar
Professor of Child Development and Principal Investigator for The International Adoption Project
Co-Principal Investigator of The Early Experience, Stress Neurobiology, and Prevention Science Network
University of Minnesota
"Early Life Stress and Development: Studies of Children Adopted Internationally from Orphanages"
Abstract: The development of children adopted from institutional care overseas offers a relatively unique opportunity to examine the impact of early deprivation that is not followed by continued adversity. In this talk I will consider the impact of these children’s early deprivation on neurobiological stress-mediating systems. Our findings show that early life stress has long-term implications for the development of the stress- and emotion-regulatory systems. However, we also find evidence that puberty may provide an opportunity to re-calibrate some of these systems. Implications of these findings for the mental and physical health of children who experience deprivation and neglect early in life will be discussed.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 4:15 p.m.
127 Moore Building, University Park
Dr. Stephanie Rowley
Professor and Associate Chair, Psychology Department; Professor, School of Education
University of Michigan
"The Effects of Awareness of the Achievement Gap on Parenting in African Americans"
Abstract: Recent years have seen increasing public dialogue about the Black-White achievement gap. The current study is an investigation of the effects of this discourse on parenting in African American families. We primed half our sample of 71 parents to be aware of the achievement gap just before they helped their child with a difficult math problem. Results of pencil-and-paper reports of parent and child affect and the quality of parent assistance showed that parents in the primed group were more intrusive and negative with their children than those who were not primed. Preliminary results of coded observations of the same interaction will also be discussed. The results will be discussed in terms of their implications for schools and the government as they balance public awareness of the gap with the potential negative effects of "gap" discourse. The implications of other meso- and macro-system effects on parenting will also be discussed.
Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 4:15 p.m.
Child Study Center, 101M University Support Building I
Dr. Mark Chaffin
Psychologist, Professor of Pediatrics, and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
"Adapting and Implementing Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Child Welfare Outcomes"
Abstract: Evidence-based or research based interventions are rapidly becoming the state-of-the-art in health care and behavioral health areas, but are still fairly new in child welfare service systems. Until recently, there were simply few models available that had been rigorously tested and demonstrated effective for altering child welfare outcomes or reducing child abuse. Recent developments have changed this, and it is now clear that newer models can significantly reduce recurrences of physical abuse or neglect. This includes demonstrating improved outcomes in fully scaled-up systemwide implementations. This presentation will summarize a series of field trials conducted by our group over the last decade, including studies examining both intervention model and implementation strategy manipulations, and will discuss some of the design and analytic challenges in this type of research.
SAVE THE DATES for Fall 2012
NEW DATE CHANGE FOR BLOOM LECTURE
Nittany Lion Inn, Boardroom (not Assembly Room and Alumni Lounge as previously announced)
2012 Child Study Center's Annual Lois Bloom Lecture
Dr. Seth Pollak
Distinguished Professor of Psychology
University of Wisconsin at Madison
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4:15 p.m., Nittany Lion Inn, Alumni Lounge
Co-Sponsored with the Prevention Research Center
Dr. Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
Virginia & Leonard Marx Professor of Child and Parent Developmental Education, Teachers College and College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Co-Director, National Center for Children and Families; and Co-Director, Columbia University Institute for Child and Family Policyhttp://www.prevention.psu.edu/news/index.html
