February 7, 2003
NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Arnold Sameroff, internationally known for his contributions to understanding the factors that put children at risk or protect them as they develop socially, emotionally and academically, will speak at a free public lecture Thursday, Feb. 13, at Vanderbilt University’s John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development.
Sameroff’s lecture, “Not Making It: Determinants of Developmental Failure,” is scheduled at 4 p.m. in Room 241 of the Kennedy Center/MRL Building on Vanderbilt’s Peabody Campus.
Sameroff is conducting a number of projects following the development of infants, school-age children and adolescents. The aim is to understand the effects of family, community, school and peer groups on social-emotional and academic success.
Using a model of development that looks at the many influences on a child’s development, he is examining the interactions between child characteristics, parent childrearing behavior and belief systems, as well as the interactions between parent characteristics and their ethnic, socioeconomic and neighborhood backgrounds. He is also exploring the relation of risk and protective factors to issues of vulnerability and resilience.
Sameroff has received the G. Stanley Hall Award for Distinguished Contribution to Developmental Psychology from the American Psychological Association. He is currently president of the International Society for Infant Studies.
For more information about Sameroff’s lecture, call 615-322-8240. The lecture is sponsored by Vanderbilt’s John F. Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, designated by the National Institute of Child Health as a national center for research on developmental disabilities.
Media contact: Jan Rosemergy, 615-322-8240, jan.rosemergy@vanderbilt.edu