Social Development Lab

Development Lab

Dr. Abraham’s Developmental Lab researches the following:

Attachment relationships with parents, siblings and friends. We look at how the attachment relationships formed with parents and siblings in our early years influence our ability to form and maintain social relationships in adolescence and adulthood.

  • Research explores the impact of parent perceptions of their child on development of attachment and quality of interaction.
  • Research examines the relationship of attachments to parents and siblings with the experience of sibling conflict and/or abuse. 

Stress, coping, and mood are studied. We examine how these factors influence our social successes and how our ability to make use of social support influences our ability to cope with stress and regulate mood.

  • Research focuses on how attachment development impacts our ability to cope with academic stress, as well as how our ability to make use of available social support impacts our stress response. Stress responses are measured through heart rate, cortisol and alpha amylase as well as mood changes.
  • Research on factors that influence the hardiness of children throughout development and the affect of early life stress on resilience.

Dr. Abraham may be reached via email at:  Michelle.Abraham@indstate.edu

 

Social Development Lab