ANN ARBOR—With a $3 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, the new University of Michigan Center for Development and Mental Health (CDMH) officially opened Jan. 31 at the U-M Center for Human Growth and Development (CHGD).

Director of the CDMH is Arnold J. Sameroff, senior research scientist at the Center for Human Growth and Development and professor of psychology at the U-M College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA).

“The new center will facilitate longitudinal research on the factors that contribute to mental health and illness from infancy to adulthood,” says Sameroff. “We hope to identify the personal and social characteristics that influence a successful passage through life. Our ultimate goal is to provide a firmer basis for prevention and intervention efforts that foster mental health throughout the life span.”

“The new Center grant is wonderful for the University and for everyone involved,” says Betsy Lozoff, director of the U-M Center for Human Growth and Development and professor of pediatrics at the U-M Medical School. “It allows a group of outstanding researchers from all around campus to access issues of mental health and development in a broader way than previously possible. Collaborations between LSA, the Medical School, the School of Social Work, and the School of Education are exactly the kind of interdisciplinary efforts that the Center for Human Growth and Development seeks to foster.”

The CDMH has already initiated three new research projects. Delia M. Vázquez, associate professor of pediatrics at the U-M Medical School and associate research scientist at the U-M Center for Human Growth and Development, is heading an interdisciplinary team that will examine the interaction of biological, psychological, and social functioning on behavior in order to elucidate the impact of stress hormones during early development. “We will focus on infants who have problems of physiological regulation, such as excessive crying, sleep disturbances and feeding problems,” Vázquez explains. “We know that these infants have an increased risk of problems in emotional, social, and cognitive functioning, and this study will help us correlate physiological markers with individual coping strategies in both children and their caretakers.”

The second CDMH research project is headed by Vonnie C. McLoyd, senior research scientist at CHGD and professor of psychology at the LSA. The project will draw together data from five separate sites—Flint, Mich.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Prince George’s County, Md.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and the nationally representative Panel Study of Income Dynamics Child Development Supplement, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR)—to determine how economic stress affects the social and emotional functioning of adolescents. “Our aims are to evaluate a model that explains the effects of economic hardship on children’s social and emotional adjustment by examining the effects of poverty on parents’ mental health and child-rearing behavior,” McLoyd states.

The third research project, headed by Sameroff, will assess the life success and mental health of 30-year-olds who have been studied since birth. “We will contrast the developmental course of groups of young adults who were at high or low environmental risk during their infancy, childhood, and adolescence,” says Sameroff. “We’ll compare the life histories of resilient and non-resilient individuals, to identify the factors that led them to more or less successful current life situations. We also hope to look at the mental health of participants’ children to determine the extent that parents’ assets and liabilities are passed on to their offspring.”

In addition to the new research projects, the U-M Center for Development and Mental Health will integrate and disseminate information from more than 40 existing U-M longitudinal studies of mental health covering individuals from infancy to senescence. The Center will also initiate research facilitation groups to assist investigators in designing and analyzing developmental studies of mental health, and sponsor annual workshops bringing together national and international experts in development and mental health.

National Institute of Mental HealthArnold J. SameroffBetsy LozoffDelia M. VázquezVonnie C. McLoyd