From poverty and drug addiction to maternal depression and a parent’s incarceration, the environments young children grow up in can make them especially vulnerable, says brain researcher Julie Poehlmann.
But in her research into how high-risk infants and children develop, she has also observed their resilience in the face of such challenges, often tied to the response of adults who provide their early care.
“I look at the conditions and risks that can lead to less optimal development, but I also look at what factors promote positive development despite those risks,” said Poehlmann, an associate professor of human development and family studies and educational psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of Waisman Center’s Infant-Parent Interaction Lab.