Current Research

THE SECURE STUDENTS/SAFE SCHOOLS PROJECT (S4P)

The Secure Students/Safe Schools Project attempts to better understand how adolescents cope with threatening peer experiences, such as victimization and rejection. Early adolescence marks a time of heightened sensitivity to social dynamics, a peak in bullying behavior, and a sharp increase in the prevalence of internalizing psychopathology. The S4P aims to better understand the complex factors that determine individuals’ responses to victimization, the psychosocial consequences of these experiences for both bullies and victims, and the school and family influences that may serve as a source of resiliency for victimized youth. Central to the project is the development of valid assessment of individual differences in insecurity and social defense functioning in the peer group. 

This research is made possible by funding from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Layman Seed Grant was awarded to Dr. Meredith J. Martin. 


THE PEER ETHOLOGY PROJECT


The Peer Ethology Project (PEP) focuses on the application of ethological and evolutionary theory towards a more thorough understanding of the implications of social dynamics on children's mental health. Utilizing an existing data set of video-recorded small group free-play sessions from a summer camp program for maltreated and at-risk children, the research team works to identify differences in children's behaviors and individual patterns of coping with threat and hostility in peer interactions.

This research is part of an on-going collaboration with the Mt. Hope Family Center and is made possible by funding from NICHD (R21 HD068326) awarded to Drs. Patrick T. Davies, Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Dante Cicchetti, and Fred Rogosch and an Owen F. Aldis scholarship from the International Society for Human Ethology (ISHE) awarded to Dr. Meredith J. Martin.

For more information, please see the original project page at the Rochester Center for Research on Children and Families: http://www.sas.rochester.edu/psy/research/rcf/projects/PEP.html

PROJECT BEST FRIENDS FOREVER (PBFF)

Close friendships can be some of the most important relationships in our lives. Having a good friend in early adolescence has been linked to better school adjustment and psychological well-being even into adulthood. Quality friendships can even help to prevent the negative impact of victimization and rejection experiences.

Less is known about how and why friendships support healthy development. Project BFF asks adolescents to talk about their best friendship relationship and what it means to them. Adolescents’ own words help to elucidate the functions of close friendships in helping teens feel safe, regulate emotions, build social skills, and co-create fun and excitement. These different aspects of friendship can be understood in relation to the function of two distinct behavioral systems: Attachment and Affiliation. Recent findings suggest that these distinct aspects of close friendships can have unique implications for adolescent mental health and school adjustment.

This research is part of an on-going collaboration with the University of Rochester. The parent projects include: The Me and My Family Project, funded by an NIMH grant (R01 MH057318-10) awarded to Drs. Patrick T. Davies, E. Mark Cummings, and Dante Cicchetti; and Project BRIDGE, funded by NICHD (R01 HD060789-05) and awarded to Drs. Melissa L. Sturge-Apple and Patrick T. Davies. For more information on these projects, visit the Rochester Center for Research on Children and Families: http://www.sas.rochester.edu/psy/research/rcf/index.html



THE ADOLESCENT ATTACHMENT STUDY


As adolescents negotiate increasing autonomy, the parent-child relationship undergoes a transition period. For most families, this process occurs without significant stress. For others, adolescence can be a period of heightened conflict and decreased closeness in the parent-child relationship that can have lasting consequences for adolescents’ mental health. The Adolescent Attachment study examines how normative disruptions in the parent-adolescent relationship may undermine adolescents’ ability to turn to parents for support in times of distress.

Theory and research suggest that parents remain important, if not the most important, attachment figures for adolescents. However, research has relied heavily on interview measures of teens’ perceptions of early attachment experiences with parents to assess attachment in adolescence. The Adolescent Attachment Study uses observations of parent-adolescent interactions to capture teens’ ability to draw on parents for safe haven and secure base support in real-time.

The Adolescent Attachment study is part of a larger longitudinal investigation of the parent-child relationship in adolescence at the University of Rochester and the Mt. Hope Family Center. This research is made possible by funding from NICHD (R01 HD060789-05) awarded to Drs. Melissa L. Sturge-Apple and Patrick T. Davies. For more information on this project, visit the Rochester Center for Research on Children and Families: http://www.sas.rochester.edu/psy/research/rcf/projects/ProjectBRIDGE.html