The Child and Family Research Section closed in June, 2019.

 

The Child and Family Research Section in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development investigates dispositional, experiential, and environmental factors that contribute to physical, mental, emotional, and social development in human beings across the first two decades of life. The overall goals of Child and Family Research are to describe, analyze, and assess the capabilities and proclivities of developing human beings, including their genetic characteristics, physiological functioning, perceptual and cognitive abilities, emotional, social, and interactional styles, as well as the nature and consequences for children and parents of family development, and children's exposure to and interactions with their physical surroundings. Project designs are experimental, longitudinal, and cross-sectional as well as intra-cultural and cross-cultural. Sociodemographic comparisons include family socioeconomic status, maternal age and employment status, and child parity and daycare experience. Study sites include Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, England, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Peru, and the Republic of South Korea as well as the United States.  The ultimate aims of these research programs are concerned directly with promoting aware, fit, and motivated children who, as a hopeful eventuality, will grow into knowledgeable, healthy, and happy adults.