New Opportunities at CYDI

​How do children understand emotions through facial expression?
 Holiday Parents Night Out!
December 2nd, 5-8PM

Recent Study publications at CYDI

Profiles of teachers’ occupational health: Associations with classroom management practices, gender, and race

​Summer Braun, Chelsea Kaihoi, Heather McDaniel, & Catherine Bradshaw
This study examined teachers’ occupational health, measured by feelings of job stress, burnout, and teaching self-efficacy. Results from 516 teachers indicated that there were four profiles of teachers: lowest occupational health (17% of the sample), low-to-mid occupational health/mid self-efficacy (38%), mid-to-high occupational health/mid-self-efficacy (30%), and highest (15%) occupational health. Proactive behavior management practices were observed less frequently for teachers in the lowest (vs. highest) occupational health profile. White female teachers were associated with profiles of low occupational health more than White male teachers, and male and female teachers of color. Findings offer insight into the consequences of poor occupational health along with who may be at risk for experiences of poor occupational health.
Youth with Low Pre‑injury Mental Health Symptoms Are at a Higher Risk for Symptoms Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Brandon McCormick & Andrea Glenn
Concussions are common in children and adolescents and may be related to long-term mental health symptoms. However, many studies do not consider how pre-existing mental health system might influence the effects of concussions on mental health. In this study, we used data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods to examine this idea. We found that youth with lower levels of pre-existing mental health symptoms were at greater risk for increases in mental health symptoms following concussions compared to youth with higher pre-existing symptoms.

Experimental Therapeutics in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology: Identifying Mechanisms and Moving the Needle

Susan White
The premise of experimental therapeutics is that one can (a) target a process, or mechanism, underlying psychopathology and (b) that change in said mechanism can cause clinical improvement. Targeting specific mechanisms may permit more effective and personalized medicine. The experimental therapeutics approach holds promise for improving the potency and efficiency of treatments for childhood psychopathology, and for advancing our understanding of the factors that both cause and sustain psychopathology. 

Fall Highlights

​Dr. Summer Braun, who is a one of the CASEL Weissberg Scholars, participated in the CASEL’s SEL Exchange in Chicago this fall! 

Dr. Susan White's Lab went bowling!

New Grant Highlight!

Dr. Morett has recently been funded by a UA ORED grant to investigate social communication in ASD utilizing fNIRS
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent deficits in nonverbal communication, including gesture. Although functional abnormalities in two key brain regions subserving language processing (inferior frontal gyrus, IFG; posterior superior temporal sulcus, pSTS) have been observed in ASD, it is unclear whether they are associated with impairments in gesture-speech integration and communication in this disorder. This project will use functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a participant-friendly, motion-resistant optical neuroimaging method, to (1) examine activity in IFG and pSTS during gesture-speech integration in children with ASD and typically developing peers; and (2) relate it to social communicative symptoms in ASD. In doing so, it will  provide insight into the potential of functional activity in and connectivity of IFG and pSTS as biomarkers of social communication impairments and intervention efficacy. ​