Brenda L. Volling, Ph.D. - US grants

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of the proposed research is to examine the transition period following the birth of a baby sibling. The arrival of a newborn sibling often leads to feelings of displacement on the part of the older child and parental concerns about sibling jealousy. Specifically, we propose to examine changes in family relationships (mother-child, father-child, and marital), parent well-being, and the firstborn child's adjustment longitudinally. The study begins in the last trimester of the mother's pregnancy with a second child and continues throughout the first year after the sibling's birth. An important goal of this study is to determine which families may be a greatest risk for a stressful transition. This research proposes to: 1. identify different change trajectories in the firstborn child's adjustment across the first year following the birth of the second child;2. to examine the interrelations between changes seen in family relationships, parental well-being and the older child's adjustment;3. to use prenatal assessments of family, child and parent characteristics to predict different developmental trajectories of family and child functioning overtime and;4. to address the socioemotional development of the young infant throughout the first year following the transition to siblinghood. The proposed research is unique in that it will include a large sample of 200 families;follow these families longitudinally before and after the birth;include both mothers and fathers as participants;and examine this transition from a dynamic ecological systems framework. This developmental study will further our understanding of the transitional stresses experienced by families and guide us in developing preventative recommendations to health care professionals and the families they serve.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): [unreadable] A Research Career Award (K02) would support 5 years of programmatic research into young children's family relationships and early social and emotional development. The applicant's prior experience and expertise in family relationships and complex family systems places the applicant in a unique position for studying the changes that occur in family life and children's adjustment during the transition period following the birth of a baby sibling. Few studies have examined this important developmental period in the young child's life and this will be the first large-scale study designed to investigate the complex interrelations of change trajectories in individual development and family relationships across the transition to siblinghood. The institutional environment is strongly supportive of the research program and extensive resources are currently in place. The applicant's recently funded NICHD study, "Family Transitions following the Birth of a Sibling" will be the primary focus of the award period. In this study 200 families are followed longitudinally beginning in the prenatal period and then at 1, 4, 8, and 12 months after the sibling's birth in order to examine changes in family relationships (e.g., marital, parent-child), the older sibling's adjustment to the arrival of a baby sibling, the development of secure infant-parent attachments, and the early origins of the sibling relationship. One of the primary aims of this work is to identify different change trajectories over time in individual and family functioning and to examine personal characteristics of the parents, the children, and contextual characteristics (e.g., work, social support, marital) as prenatal predictors of different change trajectories. One of the major strengths of this study is the inclusion of fathers in every aspect of the research program. Several different directions have been outlined with respect to the applicant's learning and professional growth, including an understanding of (1) the biological processes underlying depression, social relationships, and emotional expression; (2) theory of mind development and its relation with sibling relationships; (3) gender differences in adult depression, and (4) the emergence of early self regulation in toddlerhood. The candidate will also acquire advanced training in statistical analyses for multivariate longitudinal data including hierarchical linear modeling. The ultimate goal of this Award is to develop a programmatic line of research on young children's socioemotional development in the context of changing family relationships that will eventually contribute to an understanding of how the interplay between biology and complex family systems affects children's social and emotional development in the infant, toddler, and preschool years. Findings from this research will inform future prevention and intervention efforts by identifying the various ways older children adjust to the arrival of a baby sibling, the biological and social factors that predict different patterns of adjustment over time, and the consequences these changes have for children and family functioning in subsequent years. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The primary goal of this research is to examine the development of toddler self-regulation from 24 to 36 months using a within-family, sibling design and to address changes occurring in the family that coincide with the development of early self-regulatory competence. The study plan involves adding longitudinal follow-ups to an existing study examining changes in the family following the birth of a second child when the second born turns 24 and 36 months of age. Specifically, families participating in the Family Transitions Study (FTS) will be recontacted when their second child is 24 and 36 months old to assess family dynamics and the social and emotional development of both siblings in the family. The 24 and 36 month timepoints extend data collection from six prior timepoints (Prenatal, 1, 4, 8,12 and 18 months) that allows the examination of complex change within the family system for two parents (mother, father) and two siblings (older, toddler). The research proposes to: 1. Identify change trajectories in the second born child's self-regulation from 18 to 36 months of age;2. Move beyond between-family, mother-child research, and include fathers and older siblings in an effort to examine within-family processes that are important for the development of the toddler's early self-regulation. 3. Simultaneously model change in the older sibling's problematic behavior from pre-birth to 36 months after the sibling birth and relate it to change in the toddler sibling's development of self-regulation from 18 to 36 months and;4. Examine whether changes within the family (parental depression, parenting, sibling relations, marital change) during the first three years after the birth act as shared or nonshared family risk factors that predict the development of sibling outcomes from 18 to 36 months. The proposed research is unique in that it includes a large sample of 180 families;followed longitudinally across eight timepoints;includes mothers and fathers, and two siblings;and examines within-family processes not examined to date in the development of early self-regulation. This study will further our understanding of the family processes that predict difficult toddler behavior during the "terrible two's" and aid both professionals and parents in preventing child behavior problems in early childhood.