Research summary
A child’s home life has a significant influence on their social and emotional well-being. As Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Studies in Neuroscience, Dr. Jennifer Khoury is examining early biological and social influences on child development, both typical and atypical, from infancy to later childhood.
She and her research team are examining the brain and behavioural risk factors associated with the intergenerational transmission of child maltreatment. They are also studying how parents’ mental health—especially borderline personality disorder among mothers—affects both parenting and child development. Khoury and her team also hope to uncover how parent-child conflict affects child stress physiology and socio-emotional development.