Welcome to the Development of Toddlers Study!
The Development of Toddlers Study (DOTS) is a longitudinal project investigating the development of emotion regulation in children between 18 and 60 months of age from rural and semi-rural economically-strained families. Currently, data from DOTS are being used to explore the role of language in the development of emotion regulation. Specifically, we are examining children’s use of language during challenging tasks, and the role of parents in helping children harness language in the service of emotion regulation. Further, current projects are exploring predictors of parenting behavior. Predictors of interest include parents’ thoughts and feelings about their child, child characteristics, and family socioeconomic and demographic factors.
To date, DOTS data have been used in several publications to provide empirical support for theories about the development of emotion regulation. This project demonstrated age-related changes in the latency and duration of anger expression and purported regulatory strategies across the toddler and preschool period. Further, this project provided the first longitudinal evidence of early language abilities predicting preschool-age aspects of anger regulation.
The Development of Toddlers Study was supported by the National Institute on Mental Health Grant R01-061388.
Faculty Collaborators
Keith Crnic
Foundation Professor and Department Chair
Department of Psychology (Clinical)
Arizona State University
Clancy Blair
Professor of Applied Psychology
New York University
Keith Nelson
Professor of Psychology (Developmental)
The Pennsylvania State University