Center for the Study of Schools as a Context for Urban Children’s Mental Health

NIMH
ID: 5P20MH078458-02
PI: MARC ATKINS, PHD
TERM: 06/08 – 03/13

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant on NIH RePORTER): The primary goal of this proposed DCISIR is to address the mental health needs of children living in urban poverty by advancing research and practice to support the inherent capacity of schools to promote children’s mental health. The proposed Center for the Study of Schools as a Context for Urban Children’s Mental Health is a virtual center based at the University of Illinois Chicago, linking research programs of leading investigators in education and mental health services research at the University of Virginia, the University of Tennessee, and the Medical University of South Carolina along with leading programs in biostatistics (University of Illinois Chicago) and mental health practice (Community Mental Health Council). We propose that this integration of perspectives will yield a new understanding of the coordination of mental health and educational resources and shift the foci and nature of research on effective interventions for urban youth.

This DCISIR is guided by an understanding of schools as organizations and of classrooms as the setting in which critical interactions occur that promote learning and adjustment. This contextual focus aims to identify and leverage indigenous resources within schools and communities to change the social context of schooling for youth in urban poverty and increase the chances for positive mental health and academic outcomes for children. Our program of multidisciplinary research will draw from organizational theory, developmental-ecological theory, and education research to: (a) assess select social contextual factors within urban schools that disrupt or enhance children’s education and mental health, (b) identify and mobilize indigenous school and community resources as catalysts for change, and (c) promote and study the feasibility and impact of innovative intervention strategies and methods.

Through planned collaborative activities and research projects, the DCISIR will (1) create and adopt novel methodological approaches, (2) apply integrated theoretical perspectives to examine the core dimensions of social context associated with mental health promotion, (3) create and support sustainable community partnerships, and (4) provide training and mentoring for early career researchers working within sustainable interdisciplinary research teams.

Relevance to Public Health: The primary goal of this proposed DCISIR is to address the mental health needs of children living in urban poverty by advancing research and practice to support the inherent capacity of schools to promote children’s mental health. Through a program of multidisciplinary research, this DCISIR will: (a) assess select social contextual factors within urban schools that disrupt or enhance children’s education and mental health, (b) identify and mobilize indigenous school and community resources as catalysts for change, and (c) promote and study the feasibility and impact of innovative intervention strategies and methods.

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DEB CHILDRESS, PHD

Chief of Research and Learning Content

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Childress obtained her PhD in psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to coming to 3C Institute, she served as a research associate and a postdoctoral fellow in the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill working on a longitudinal imaging study aimed at identifying the early markers of autism through behavioral and imaging methodologies. She has 19 years of autism research experience, during which she has examined the behavioral, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals with autism and their family members. Dr. Childress also has experience developing behavioral and parent report measurement tools, coordinating multi-site research studies, and collecting data from children and families. She has taught courses and seminars in general child development, autism, and cognitive development at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Expertise

  • autism
  • early development
  • behavioral measurement
  • integrating behavioral and biological measurement

Education

  • Postdoctoral fellowship, Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (Institutional NRSA-NICHD), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • PhD, developmental psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • BS, psychology (minor in sociology), University of Iowa

Selected Publications

  • Elison, J. T., Wolff, J. J., Heimer, D. C., Paterson, S. J., Gu, H., Hazlett, H. C., Styner, M, Gerig, G., & Piven, J. (in press). Frontolimbic neural circuitry at 6 months predicts individual differences in joint attention at 9 months. Developmental Science.
  • Wassink, T. H., Vieland, V. J., Sheffield, V. C., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., Childress, D. & Piven, J. (2008). Posterior probability of linkage analysis of autism dataset identifies linkage to chromosome 16. Psychiatric Genetics,18(2),85-91.
  • Losh, M., Childress, D., Lam K. & Piven, J. (2008). Defining key features of the broad autism phenotype: A comparison across parents of multiple- and single-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 147B(4):424-33.
  • Wassink, T. H., Piven, J., Vieland, V. J., Jenkins, L., Frantz R., Bartlett, C. W., Goedken, R., … Sheffield, V.C. (2005). Evaluation of the chromosome 2q37.3 gene CENTG2 as an autism susceptibility gene. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 136, 36-44.
  • Barrett, S., Beck, J., Bernier, R., Bisson, E., Braun, T., Casavant, T., Childress, D., … Vieland, V. (1999). An autosomal genomic screen for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 88, 609-615. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8628(19991215)88:63.0.CO;2-L
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D. & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics), 74, 398-411.
  • Piven, J., Palmer, P., Jacobi, D., Childress, D. & Arndt, S. (1997). Broader autism phenotype: Evidence from a family history study of multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Psychiatry, 154, 185-190.