UMass Boston

The goal of the Child Development Unit is to enhance the emotional, social and cognitive wellbeing of infants and children, as well as their parents. The unit not only works in conjunction with several related research and training programs but also produces clinical work that is fully integrated with its programs.

Director Edward Tronick’s numerous studies have revolved around parent-child interactions and how these social and emotional exchanges, along with other external factors, affect the memory development and well-being of the children. For example, his Still-Face Paradigm has transformed our understanding of young children’s emotional capacities and coping mechanisms of infants, therefore exposing the effects of factors such as maternal depression and anxiety on infant social-emotional development.

Findings such as these provide the stepping stones toward developing preventative and reparative measures for developmental dysfunction.