Current research projects include:

• UB Early Child Development Project (ECDP). This is a short-term longitudinal study using observational methods, brief developmentally-appropriate interviews of children and teacher-reports of young children (3-5-years-old).  We are interested in further studying how various social behaviors develop and how emotion regulation capacity influences these behaviors in early childhood.  We are partnering with five area early childhood centers to conduct this relatively large multi-informant and multi-method study.  

Current Collaborative research projects:

• A series of collaborative  ERP studies with Dr. Rebecca Houston at the Research Institute of Addiction (Emerging Adulthood)
• A series of Media Effects studies with Dr. Douglas Gentile from the Department of Psychology at Iowa State University.
• A cross-cultural study of peer relations in Singapore with Dr. Julie Bowker (PI) at UB

Current student research projects include:

• SIBS Project (Early Childhood Sibling relationships using home observation).  Dissertation: Kirstin Grös

Past research projects include:

• The UB Continuation of the Early Childhood Play Project.  We contacted families that previously participated in our ECPP.  We asked 1 parent to bring the participating child to our laboratory on the south campus.  Parents completed standard surveys about their child's social behavior and children completed a brief interview and some short laboratory tasks.  The laboratory tasks were designed to assess the child's ability to delay gratification, pretend and deceive others.  The tasks were designed to be fun and engaging. Please see the newsletter summary under the parent section of this website. 
• The UB Early Childhood Play Project  (ECPP; Longitudinal Study in Early Childhood).  Please see the past newsletters under the parent section of this website or several of our publications.
• The UB Early Childhood Friendship Project (School-based Intervention Study), in collaboration with Dr. Greta Massetti (now at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA).  Please see the past newsletter under the parent section of this website or our recent publication from this study.
• The Pre2K Project, a collaborative continuation of the Preschool Pals Project (Early Childhood to Kindergarten), conducted with Dr. Nicki R. Crick, at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development

  Past student research projects include:

• Peer Conflict Project (Social Behavior, Normative Beliefs, and Hostile Attribution Biases in Late Adolescence).  Honors Thesis: Christopher A. Bailey
• Parent-report of relational aggression, family factors and parent-child relationship during early childhood.  Honors Thesis: Christa Bishop