Blog

When a person experiences a devastating loss or tragic event, why does every detail seem burned into memory whereas a host of positive experiences simply fade away? It's a bit more complicated than scientists originally thought, according to a study...

I recently worked with three groups of eighth- and ninth-grade students. All of the groups are comprised of students of color from families in poverty, which means they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch under a California program whose cutoff is...

[Photo: USNavy]  Childhood traumas are more common among military members and veterans than among civilians, according to a new study. Researchers say the results support the notion that for some, enlistment serves as an escape from troubled upbringings. The study is the largest to examine how common bad childhood experiences are among military men and women. Disparities were most striking among men during the volunteer era: More than 25 percent had experienced at least four childhood...

Our book, The Critical Role of Parenting in Human Development  ( by Marianna S. Klebanov and Adam D. Travis) is now available and about to be released in print.  It describes recent research (including the ACE Study) to illustrate the...

Are You In Michigan??... Here we care about optimal Child Development.... So I wanted to add their website so If you have good ideas for a grant application to promote optimal child development in Michigan... See the link below... T he W.K. Kellogg...

Harsh physical punishment of children may reduce the amount of grey matter in some area of the prefrontal cortex, resulting in a variety of mental health disorders. How to discipline the next generation is a hotly debated topic. In 2012, a national...

Photo Source:  WikiMedia Commons Mental health research has just received a large influx of funding. Ted Stanley is giving $650 million to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to find and treat the genetic underpinnings of mental...

The Indian Country Today Media Network looks at the impact of abuse and neglect on children in American Indian and Alaskan Native communities. An 8-month-old baby drowns in the bathtub while his father gets high smoking marijuana with friends. A baby...

Photo Source:  WikiMedia Commons What does it mean when a parent cannot remember any happy childhood memories? And how can we help them build a strong supportive family even when they cannot remember one? Summer and holiday time experiences often...

New research looks at the relationship between the dopamine system and drugs like cocaine and amphetamine. Recent published research in the  Journal of Clinical Investigation  demonstrates how changes in dopamine signaling and dopamine...

Even before they are born, babies are learning from experience, especially if it’s directly related to their moms, new research is shows. For example, while in the womb babies can learn to recognize a nursery rhyme if the mom repeats the verses...

A recent study by Professor Heckman and UC Berkeley economist Paul Gertler et al. examines the impact of an early childhood intervention conducted in Jamaica from 1986 through 1988 by researchers at the University of the West Indies. What they found...