Today’s Friday Feature is Alaina Brenick, Ph.D.!

What is your name?
– Alaina Brenick, Ph.D.

What is your current position at UConn?
– Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Sciences and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Health, and Human Development.

Where did you study & what degree were you awarded?
– I received my Ph.D. in Human Development with a specialization in Developmental Science from the University of Maryland. I then received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Friedrich Schiller Universiteit of Jena Graduate College of Human Behaviour in Social and Economic Change, Jena Germany.

Where are you from?
– Since you asked, I am proudly born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland (go ravens!).

What is the focus of your research?
– My research examines individual, micro-, and macro-level factors that contribute to intergroup conflict, societal inequities, and the conditions necessary for reducing prejudice, discrimination, and victimization across development. Specifically, I analyze how various groups of youth in the U.S. and in other regions of the world—sometimes with vastly different societal structures, norms, and expectations—experience, reason about, and respond to intergroup peer relations and group-based victimization (e.g., discriminatory bullying or exclusion). My work provides a fundamental knowledge base that can be translated into multifaceted, contextually, and developmentally appropriate intervention programs ranging from mindfulness training to intergroup contact, designed to promote compassion, empathy, social equity, and positive intergroup relations.

Can you tell us more about your ongoing studies?
– I have a number of ongoing studies at the moment: one assesses longitudinal interventions carried out in the Middle-East with Palestinian- and Jewish-Israeli children to reduce outgroup prejudice, and increase positive outgroup regard and behaviors in intergroup scenarios. A second study is assessing the bullying experiences of Latinx and Muslim-Arab immigrant youth in the U.S. following the last presidential election to the present day and exploring the protective and risk factors that may be unique to these groups. A third study examines how youth evaluate different scenarios of intergroup bullying and what type of bystander behaviors they believe are appropriate based on the ethnic makeup of the bully-victim-other bystander group. We have many more studies starting including resiliency in refugees, compassion and mindfulness interventions with kindergarteners, and prejudice reduction interventions pre- and post- covid19, to name just a few.

What are your ultimate goals?
– My ultimate goals are giving voice to marginalized youth and helping empower all youth to work for social justice.

What do you like to do in your free time?
– I love indoor gardening (I have about 40 plants in my indoor plant family and sneaking more into my home every chance I can get), I crochet and knit–mostly cute creatures for my nieces and nephews, I love to go walking and hiking, and I love to travel all over the world. The thing I love the most, though, is spending time with my niblings and being the world’s best tanta—my most important title.

The Developmental Approaches to Identities, Inequities, and Intergroup Relations Lab
(learn more about Dr. B’s work, the lab, and all our projects at: www.alaina-brenick.uconn.edu)

Findings in the late 1960s led to the development of an empirically tested treatment program to aid troubled children and juvenile offenders. Psychologists Elaine Phillips, Elery Phillips, Dean Fixsen, and Montrose Wolf combined the successful components of their studies into the Teaching-Family Model with the intention of generating a structured treatment regimen which exemplifies a family-like environment. The model’s ideal composition is built around a married couple that lives with the children in a home with the intention of teaching them essential interpersonal and living skills. Taking a step further, the behaviors and techniques are assessed for their effectiveness through empirically observable methods. Teaching-parents also work closely with the children’s caregivers (parents and/or custodian), teachers, employers, and peers to ensure support for the children’s positive environment.

In the past, many treatments viewed delinquency as an illness and therefore handled it as such. The Teaching-Family Model, in contrast, views children’s behavior problems as stemming from a lack of essential interpersonal relationships and skills. Its significance has expanded well beyond as it has demonstrated how well-researched treatment programs can be implemented on a large scale. Besides numbers and statistics that prove its significance, I believe it’s important to highlight the fact that the Teaching-Family Model has been a source of hope that young people with difficult problems or behaviors can improve the quality of their lives and the repercussion for society.

The application of the Teaching-Family Model has been expanded to include foster care facilities, home treatment settings, and even schools. The model has been accommodated to the needs of physically, emotionally, and sexually abused children; emotionally disturbed and autistic children and adults; and medically fragile children.  Although the model has been effective so far (both practically and statistically) research is still being conducted to make the Teaching-Family Model an effective tool, with the intention of benefiting both children and adults who might need aid, but to also contribute to a better social regimen.

Link to article: https://www.apa.org/research/action/family

Today’s Friday Feature is Dr. Leah Lessard!

What is your name?
– Dr. Leah Lessard

According to science, there’s no such thing as a “sugar rush” in kids. A popular myth for decades, many parents avoid giving their kids sugar due to the allegedly impending hyperactivity after consuming it. But where does this myth come from?

A faulty study in the 1970s published in food and cosmetics began the sugar rush scare, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy for decades to come. Research in the 90s found that parents expecting hyperactive or bad behavior from their kids parented poorly and thus, created the bad behavior they expected. Studies also noted that sugary items were given at social gatherings with other kids already having fun and playing, and the hyperactivity was attributed to the sugar rather than the circumstances the children were in.

So if your child wants to enjoy the occasional sweet, you don’t have to be afraid of them bouncing off the walls all night long. Just be sure they brush their teeth before they go to bed.

Learn more here.

Today’s Friday Feature is Linda C. Halgunseth, Ph.D.!

What is your name?
– Linda C. Halgunseth, Ph.D.

Today’s Friday Feature is Yuan Zhang!

What is your name?
– Yuan Zhang

Today’s Friday Feature is Lauren Ransom!

What is your name?
– Lauren Ransom

From a categorical perspective, children who live in poverty tend to perform worse in school than do children from privileged and nurtured backgrounds. In the early 1900s, researchers leaned towards biology and maturation as their main lens of child development claimed that these differences were caused by cognitive deficits. By the 1960s, this position began to decrease as health professionals began to recognize the important effect the environment can have on an individual. Although this idea was considered somewhat speculative at the time, it began to prove its ground as it revealed that early attention to physical and psychological development could improve cognitive ability.

The implementation of this research leads to the development of the federal Head Start program. The reasoning behind it was to have poor children start on an “equal footing” with wealthier classmates to promote a better chance of succeeding in school and avoiding poverty in adulthood. Additionally, the program seeks to involve the family and the community that composes the child-rearing environment. Studies show a variety of results that promote both disadvantages and advantages. The idea that some of the advantages the Head Start program may disappear through elementary school is proven by some research investigations. On the other hand, other research studies demonstrate lasting benefits in areas of school achievement and adjustment.

Since the origin of the federal Head Start program in 1965, the program has provided significant results and tangible outcomes. Approximately 20 million children and their families have participated in the program in the past and about one million are enrolled each year. But besides its practical application, the Head Start has served as a platform from which research on early intervention has proliferated. This initiative has also led to the development of other services that focus on family support and parenthood education intending to promote a nurtured environment for the upcoming generations.

 

Link to article: https://www.apa.org/research/action/early

Today’s Friday Feature is Juandiego Carmona!

What is your name?
– Juandiego Carmona

In “My Turn: Let’s not forget the children during pandemic”, Cynthia García Coll paints a picture of generational upheaval for the world’s youth during and after COVID-19.

From routine changes to family death, children are facing multiple traumas in rapid succession due to the pandemic. In addition to these bigger issues, the every day needs of children aren’t being attended to normally due to parental stress and working from home. Playing, helping with schoolwork, engaging in emotionally sensitive conversations, and more are all seeing a deficit.  Disparities in education are also making themselves known, especially for families who have limited or no internet access.

These issues also disproportionately affect children of color. García Coll reports more than 60% of Hispanics and 44% of African Americans in low-income households are experiencing underemployment or unemployment. There’s also been an increase in hate crimes during the pandemic.

One thing has been made clear by García Coll: if we don’t focus serious resources and attention on our nation’s and world’s children, this pandemic could scar their generation for the rest of their lives. The impact of course is unavoidable with an event of this magnitude, but it is up to communities and parents to ensure children are being attended to emotionally, physically, and educationally as much as possible.

read more here