Child Development and Behavior Branch at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

• In Event: Federal Agency Poster Session

Abstract

The goal of this poster will be to provide an overview of the scientific priorities of the Child Development and Behavior Branch (CDBB) within NICHD. CDBB supports basic and translational research and training that addresses the typical neurocognitive, psychological, behavioral, physical, and social-emotional development and health of infants, children, and adolescents. The branch supports research on how individual differences in development, as well as family and other social relationships, are affected by genetic, neurobiological, and socioecological influences–including emerging societal trends (e.g., increased reliance on technology and digital media), as well as public health emergencies (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic). The branch also supports basic research to identify the mechanisms by which atypical development and related health outcomes in children and adolescents from diverse backgrounds (e.g., low socioeconomic status, racial/ethnic and language minorities) and subpopulations (e.g., individuals with Specific Learning Disorders) arise from or are differentially affected by various risk/protective factors. The branch uses these findings to inform translational prevention, intervention, and health promotion studies designed to enhance their lives.

These priority areas are supported across seven research program areas:
1) Pediatric Primary Care, Behavioral Pediatrics, and Health Promotion: Focuses on relationships between behaviors and clinically important health outcomes, such as the establishment and maintenance of healthy behaviors and identification and reduction of risky behaviors from childhood through early adulthood.
2) Neurodevelopment, Cognition, and Behavior: Supports basic research on the developmental pathways leading to typical and atypical cognitive and brain development and developmental mechanisms underlying cognition and behavior at the molecular, genetic, cellular, and brain structural and functional levels.
3) Early Learning and School Readiness: Supports basic and translational developmental research to specify the experiences that prepare children for a successful transition to school entry and later achievement and long-term follow-up to quantify the long-term effect of early intervention programs.
4) Language Development and Multilingualism: Includes research in language development and psycholinguistics throughout the lifespan, including bilingualism/multilingualism and/or second-language acquisition.
5) Mathematics and Science Cognition, Reasoning, and Learning: Development and Disorders: Supports projects in basic and intervention research within all aspects of mathematical thinking and problem solving, as well as in scientific reasoning, learning, and discovery, across all ages from infancy into early adulthood.
6) Literacy and Related Learning Disabilities: Focuses on research and training initiatives to increase understanding of both normal and atypical development of reading and written language skills. This includes development of prevention, remediation, and instructional approaches to enhance these abilities.
7) Social and Emotional Development/Child and Family Processes: Supports research and research training relevant to normative social, emotional, and personality development in children, from the newborn period through adolescence. This includes studies of family processes, child maltreatment, exposure to violence, and human-animal interaction.

Authors

• James A Griffin, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  Presenting Author

• Brett Miller, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Kathy Mann Koepke, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

• Layla E Esposito, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD/NIH)

• Karen Lee

• Virginia Charlotte Salo, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD/NIH)

• Shirley Huang, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD/NIH)