Studies | Child Immigration and Developmental Psychiatry

Three of our studies conducted by Harvard Medical School Faculty examine our research questions about the relations of child language development and child mental health. We study child emotional/behavioral adaptation with complex, multivariate approaches. These approaches encompass child, family, sociocultural and school factors, and psychopathology. We are also interested in potential protective factors. Elucidating these crucial areas of resilience and vulnerability will help guide future research on mechanisms linking language development and adaptations/psychopathology, in this way shaping design of new empirically-based treatments and preventive interventions for children at risk.

Over the years, the Project has conducted three studies:

Study I-(current NIMH-funded study)
A longitudinal study of 230 bilingual Latino kindergarten children and their families in the Boston Public Schools, funded by a 5-year NIMH grant. Focus: bilingual language development and language demand as predictors of psychosocial adaptation and psychopathology-conducting analyses from Phase 1 data.

Study II-(in analysis and manuscript submission; primary funding by the Carnegie Foundation through Children's Studies at Harvard, and NIMH)
A cross-sectional study of 100 Latino bilingual children recruited at a community health center comparing those referred for mental health services to those not referred. Focus: bilingual language abilities and behavioral and emotional problems-results partially published (see publications) and in preparation for publication-currently analyzing data and writing for publication.

Study III-(concluded; funded by an NIMH-supplemental grant)
A pilot study of monolingual children, part of a multi-generational longitudinal study of families spanning more than 25 years. Focus: language competence, attachment and child psychopathology.