In the Stress and Early Adversity (SEA) Lab at Vanderbilt University, director Kathryn L. Humphreys and her team study how children’s experiences are associated with development. The ABC Study is a research project that aims to understand how children grow and develop through their daily experiences and relationships. As a participant, you and your child’s other caregiver (if applicable) will be involved in study sessions during pregnancy and when your child is 1, 6, 12, and 18 months old. These study sessions will take place at your home, at our research lab at Vanderbilt University, and at the Vanderbilt Imaging Center where your child will undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to see how their brain is growing across the first year of life. MRI is safe for infants and has been used with infants for 20 years. It requires no medication and involves no radiation.
During the study visits, we will be asking you and your family questions about your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. We will also provide wearable devices to study family interaction patterns and learn more about your child’s daily life. Overall, the study will take about 30 hours across the visits. If you complete all parts of the study, you can earn up to $1,300, and we also provide small gifts, including 3D miniatures of your child’s brain, and written reports on your child’s development.
Researchers understand that parents with young children are busy, so we offer flexible scheduling, including daytime, nights, and weekends. If you have other children, we can provide childcare by trained staff members during the sessions, and we can also help provide or cover the costs of transportation. Researchers also know that participating in a study like this might seem like a lot of work, but we hope to find families who are excited to be part of this one-of-a-kind research project.
If interested, call (615) 348-5752. email sealab@vanderbilt.edu, or visit VUsealab.com.
