Welcome to the Laboratory for the Study of Child and Family Relationships!

Our research focuses on:


• The development of adaptive and maladaptive social behaviors (social competence; social withdrawal; aggression) and peer relationships (friendship; peer acceptance and rejection; early romantic relationships) in childhood and adolescence.


• The determinants and stability of parent-child relationships, parenting behaviors and beliefs about normal and abnormal/dysfunctional development.


• Cultural influences on parenting, parent-child relationships and children’s social and emotional development.


• Predicting the development of adaptive and dysfunctional child and adolescent outcomes from the constellation and inter-mix of biological factors (e.g., temperament), context (e.g., culture), parenting and parent-child relationships, and peer relationships. Positive outcomes include social and emotional competence. Negative outcomes include social anxiety, depression, loneliness, and negative self-esteem.


• The effects of traumatic brain injury on children’s social, social-cognitive, and emotional lives at home and school.


• The effects of intervention experiences for socially anxious and withdrawn young children.