Chris Trentacosta receives 2016 APA award

Chris Trentacosta, Ph.D. has received the prestigious 2016 American Psychological Association Early Career Award for Outstanding Contributions to Benefit Children, Youth, and Families. The purpose of this award is to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions in science, policy and practice that benefit the psychological functioning or well-being of children, youth, and families.

Trentacosta's research focuses on individual differences in temperament, personality, and self-regulation among at-risk children and the interplay between these individual differences and aspects of children's social context, including the family context. He is especially interested in the roles of temperament, self-regulation, and emotion competence in children's risk for behavior problems during early childhood and their adjustment to school.

His prior research and ongoing work falls into three broad categories: (1) examinations of the correlates and outcomes of self-regulation and emotion competence from a developmental psychopathology perspective, (2) longitudinal investigations of family transmission mechanisms (genetic factors, dyadic interaction patterns) that contribute to emotion regulation difficulties and behavior problems, and (3) evaluations of programs to promote emotion competence, self-regulatory skills, and school adjustment and to prevent conduct problems. He has expertise in conducting longitudinal research with families living in poverty and other at-risk populations.

Congratulations Chris!