PrintSend

Courtesy Posting
This is a courtesy posting only and does not constitute an endorsement by FCC-SoCal. FCC-SoCal is not sponsoring, insuring or providing oversight for this program or event.

Researchers in the UCLA Psychology Department are investigating the emotional development of children who have been adopted from institutional care and are currently conducting a study examining social and emotional behaviors including attachment security.

The following note comes from Mor Shapiro, lab manager, writing on behalf of professor and researcher Dr. Nim Tottenham.

There is so little known about the behavioral outcomes of children who have been internationally adopted, and our lab is one of the few out there investigating this population of children and their families. From anecdotal information, we have learned that children adopted from other countries may experience socio-emotional difficulties. Therefore, we are trying to investigate the underlying biology associated with these behavioral difficulties to better understand what is happening. Data from our study may be used to inform interventions for individuals who struggle with social interaction.

We are contacting your organization [FCC-SoCal] in the hopes that you might help us contact potential volunteers and pass this information on to families who might be interested in participating, whether by passing out our flyer, or posting recruitment text on your website. We are looking to recruit children who have been adopted from other countries between the ages of 2 and 17.

In previous studies, Dr. Tottenham worked with the FCC chapter in New York, and they were able to include the study information in their newsletter and list serve. Please let us know if this is something your organization would be able to do.

For the study, we ask individuals to come to our laboratory on UCLA’s campus for one to two visits. During those visits children play computer games that are designed to be fun for them, but scientifically informative for us. For older children, we also invite children to play these games while inside of an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), a non-invasive way to measure brain activity while children are actively engaged in a task. MRI is usually a novel experience for most people, but our lab has expertise in making the MRI experience an enjoyable one for children. All of the procedures used are non-invasive and child-friendly, and families that wish to participate are paid for their time. We respect individuals’ privacy and therefore, all information collected in the research project will remain confidential.

Both Dr. Tottenham and I would be happy to discuss this research study in more detail. If you think families in your organization might be interested, please do not hesitate to contact us. You may reply to this e-mail or you may contact our research staff at our lab, the Developmental Affective Neuroscience Lab at UCLA at (310) 825-7612, e-mail us at [email protected] or mail us at:

1285 Franz Hall
Box 951563
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563

You may also visit our website at http://socialbraindev.psych.ucla.edu for more information.

Best Regards,

Mor Shapiro, B.S.
Lab Manager
Developmental Affective Neuroscience Lab
3284 Franz Hall
Department of Psychology, UCLA
(310) 825 7612
[email protected]