The AD Lab is committed to the study of how children are affected by, and in many cases successfully negotiate, different kinds of adverse life experiences, such as poverty, community and family violence, loss and illness. We endeavor to understand how and why the development of some children is undermined by negative life experience, while others are relatively less affected. Our work examines the key relationships that influence the effects of adverse experience on development, including those within the family and community, as well as those among physical, emotional and behavioral response systems of the child.
Our research employs multiple methods, including direct observation, physiological recordings, quantitative measures, and qualitative interviews, to gather a multidimensional understanding of children’s functioning and the meaning of their experience. We appreciate that child development is embedded within broader systems that transcend multiple levels of influence. Therefore, we collect information from the child and her/his family, friends, caregivers, and teachers. Finally, we contextualize all this information within the broader fabric of the child’s sociocultural environment.
The AD Lab is committed to high quality, innovative scholarly research that has real world implications for our participants and the broader population. As such, we encourage participation from a diverse array of participants in terms of economic status, family structure, ethnicity, and life experiences, among other factors.
