Anne Hungerford

My research focuses on early socio-emotional development. I am particularly interested in individual differences in self-regulation, manifested in young children's abilities to comply with requests, delay gratification, and manage negative emotions such as frustration effectively. Research interest in the development of self-regulation has increased in recent years because individual differences in self-regulatory abilities are related to later developmental outcomes, including behavior problems and social competence. In collaboration with graduate and undergraduate students I am conducting a study on emotional development in toddlers focusing on the origins of individual differences in self-regulatory skills. We are examining how family factors including parenting behavior, as well as child characteristics such as temperament, are related to early self-regulation. The participants include 2-year-old children and their mothers, and we will assess the children again when they turn 3, allowing us to examine stability and change in self-regulatory abilities.

Additional areas of research interest include child care and its relation to young children's development, parenting behavior, and attachment security.

Selected Publications

Hungerford, A., & Cox, M. J. (in press). Family factors and child care research. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management.

Hungerford, A. (2005). The use of anatomically detailed dolls in forensic investigations: Developmental considerations. Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, 5, 75-88.

Calkins, S. D., Hungerford, A., & Dedmon, S. E. (2004). Mothers' interactions with temperamentally frustrated infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 25, 219-239.

Campbell, S. B., Brownell, C. A., Hungerford, A., Mohan, R., Spieker, S. J., & Blessing, J. (2004). The course of maternal depressive symptoms and maternal sensitivity as predictors of attachment security at 36 months. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 231-252.