Project description
The ABCs of how social experiences affect children’s biology
Children who experience adverse social experiences in kindergarten and elementary school are at increased risk of developing aggression, poor self-regulation, and difficulties with stress regulation. Even though research has linked such experiences to negative outcomes, the mechanisms underlying these effects are poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, the socio-bio interplay project, funded by the European Research Council, aims to study how adverse social experiences affect the neurobiology of children. Using a multidisciplinary approach that combines twin studies, observational studies, and lab experiments, the project seeks to uncover the impacts of bullying and negative social experiences on children’s DNA methylation and neurocognitive function development. The ultimate goal is to develop interventions to prevent aggression and promote healthy development in at-risk children.
Objective
Think about the day you took your child to kindergarten for the first time. You were worried. Worried about the social experiences of your child. Would peers like your child, or would it get bullied, or rejected by classmates?
Many children have positive social school experiences, but 10-15% of children become rejected, victim of bullying, have few friends and have poor relations with teachers. Such experiences have been linked to aggression development, but we poorly understand how.
I hypothesize that adverse social experiences in kindergarten and elementary school affect the neurobiology of children. Specifically, I aim to study how adverse social experiences (1) affect DNA methylation of genes implicated with stress regulation, and (2) affect neurocognitive functions underlying self-regulation, thereby increasing aggression.
I will use a multidisciplinary approach to comprehensively study these hypotheses by using the strengths of twin-, observational and experimental studies. I will first study the impact of bully-victimization on children’s methylation of DNA and neurocognitive function development in monozygotic twins differing in bully-victimization, to test whether bully-victimization affects the neurobiology above and beyond possible genetic effects.
I will then focuses on cross-time influences of multiple social experiences on DNA methylation and neurocognitive functions. Adverse versus protective effects of peer- and teacher-relations on DNA methylation and neurocognitive functions will be studied to explore possible cascading, accentuation, and buffering effects. Further, sex differences will be addressed.
In the final set of (lab-experimental) studies I aim to unravel how DNA methylation of genes implicated with stress system responses, and altered neurocognitive functions lead to aggression by studying differences between chronically rejected and stable non-rejected children in stress-, and self-regulation following a social exclusion experience.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences neurobiology
- social sciences educational sciences didactics
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- social sciences sociology social issues social inequalities
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2014-CoG
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1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
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