Research
The overall goal of the research done in the Human Developmental Psychobiology Laboratory is to understand how the experiences of childhood, especially stressful experiences, affect children of different emotional temperaments and how the combination of temperament and experience shapes a child's ability to manage stress as she or he grows up.
In 1999, our lab in collaboration with Pediatrics, Epidemiology, Family Social Science, Psychology and Minnesota's Department of Human Services began the first large scale study of children who come to their families through international adoption, The International Adoption Project. We are funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health to continue our research on the impact of early experiences on children who come to their family through international adoption.
Lastly, our lab participates in The Early Experience & Glucocorticoids Network. Quarterly, a group researchers meet to discuss and propose research on the linkages between animal and human's development of the Limbic-Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenocortical system (which regulates the stress hormone Cortisol).