The Maryland Child & Family Laboratory Fund provides general operating support for the Maryland Child and Family Development Laboratory (MCFDL). Financial support will be used to supplement programming initiatives and other special events, purchasing of research materials, provide stipends to research participants, hire research staff, and to support other operational expenses associated with this laboratory.
As the director of the Maryland Child and Family Development Laboratory, Professor Jude Cassidy directs research activities in the following areas: socio-emotional development from infancy through adolescence, with an emphasis on attachment and family relationships; social, cognitive, and regulatory mechanisms through which children’s early family experiences come to influence later well-being and relationships; the nature and correlates of individual variation in children’s response to threat; the development of empathy and prosocial behavior; links among adolescents’ risk behavior, regulatory capacities, and family relationships; and early intervention designed to reduce the risk of insecure attachment and mental disorders and to support children’s regulatory capacities and positive relationships with peers.
Research conducted at MCFDL has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Krieger Fund.
Please click here to learn more about the Maryland Child and Family Development Laboratory.