CARE
With our collaborator Autumn Kujawa, we are launching a new study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, called the CARE study – Charting Affect and Reward during Early Childhood. This study will include 450 children between the ages of 4 to 6 enrolled at Penn State or Vanderbilt University. We will follow children and parents across two years to examine changes in emotions and reward responses during this important developmental period and better understand factors that promote healthy development of positive emotions and rewards to reduce risk for emotional and behavioral problems.
BEAM
With our collaborator Eric Nelson, we are working on a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, called the BEAM study—Brains, Emotion Regulation, and Adolescent Moods Study. In this study, we are examining how individual differences in emotion regulation styles are implicated in the development and course of depression in children and adolescents, ages nine to fourteen years. Results will aid in identifying biomarkers associated with the onset and progression of MDD in high-risk youth, which can further be used to enhance targeted prevention and intervention strategies for MDD.
Happy Families
With our collaborator Autumn Kujawa, we are developing and piloting a novel preventive intervention aimed to enhance positive emotions and reward responsiveness in children of parents with histories of depression or anhedonia. This work is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.
FPPE-D
With our collaborators Autumn Kujawa and Cope Feurer, we are conducting a pilot randomized trial evaluating a positive affect prevention program (Family Promoting Positive Emotions) in children aged 8-12 and their mothers experiencing financial deprivation. The study examines the program’s effectiveness in strengthening shared positive experiences and parenting strategies to reduce children’s emotional and behavioral problems. We compare this program to a standard psychoeducational approach, with outcomes assessed using surveys and ecological momentary assessment methods. This work is supported by the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network and a Dr. Frances Keesler Graham Early Career Professorship awarded to Dr. Burkhouse through the Penn State Social Science Research Institute.
