Topics Studied in the Lab
Here in the SEEDS Lab, we focus our research on early childhood development, early childhood education, and social issues such as poverty. Our first line of research focuses on children's self-regulation (e.g., ability to control your behavior, attention, and emotions) as a source of resilience in the context of poverty. Lab projects include investigations of links from early self-regulation to their later academic achievement, among children in low-income communities and among children drawn from nationally representative samples.
Our second line of research focuses on how contexts such as child care, early childhood education, and early intervention can be structured to best support children, families, and teachers. We have analyzed how low-income preschoolers' child care experiences relate to their well-being in middle childhood and whether a randomized mental health intervention program yielded impacts on children's adjustment.
Our third line of research stems from primary data collection projects, which have included reports from teachers and parents as well as direct assessments of children's self-regulation and academic skills.
Our second line of research focuses on how contexts such as child care, early childhood education, and early intervention can be structured to best support children, families, and teachers. We have analyzed how low-income preschoolers' child care experiences relate to their well-being in middle childhood and whether a randomized mental health intervention program yielded impacts on children's adjustment.
Our third line of research stems from primary data collection projects, which have included reports from teachers and parents as well as direct assessments of children's self-regulation and academic skills.
Current Research
Christine Pajunar Li-Grining, Ph.D.: Prof. Li-Grining is an expert on the study of low-income children’s self-regulation (e.g., the ability to control one’s behavior, attention, and emotions) school readiness, and academic achievement in contexts such as early childhood education and policy. Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals in developmental psychology and applied developmental science. Professor Li-Grining’s research program focuses self-regulation as a source of resilience, and social contexts (e.g., child care, early intervention, and schools). New research projects have extended these lines through, for example, the study of Latino children’s self-regulation. Data in the lab come from three sources: 1) national, publicly available datasets, 2) the Chicago School Readiness Project, and 3) our own data collection projects (e.g., see +Project below). Prof. Li-Grining earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University in 2005, her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Development from the Erikson Institute in
2000, and her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1996.
Chicago Stories of Resilience: Follow up for teenagers who had participated in the Chicago School Readiness Project in preschool to hear stories about experiences regarding their school, family, and social lives as well as their plans for after high school.
Strengthening Equity and Effectiveness for Teachers of English Learners (SEE-TEL): A project designed to improve and equalize EL instruction and achievement across the state of Missouri by developing educators’ expertise on effective EL instructional strategies and family engagement.
The Anchor Project: This project explores Loyola students' use of college supports, and their perspectives on the ways that said college supports can better foster educational advancement and career planning among marginalized students.
InterSECtions Project: The goal of this project is to better understand immigrant adolescents' experiences with five social emotional competencies, which include self-awareness (e.g., ethnic-racial identity), self-management (e.g., self-regulation), responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness, as well as how these may relate to their cultural backgrounds.
2000, and her B.A. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1996.
Chicago Stories of Resilience: Follow up for teenagers who had participated in the Chicago School Readiness Project in preschool to hear stories about experiences regarding their school, family, and social lives as well as their plans for after high school.
Strengthening Equity and Effectiveness for Teachers of English Learners (SEE-TEL): A project designed to improve and equalize EL instruction and achievement across the state of Missouri by developing educators’ expertise on effective EL instructional strategies and family engagement.
The Anchor Project: This project explores Loyola students' use of college supports, and their perspectives on the ways that said college supports can better foster educational advancement and career planning among marginalized students.
InterSECtions Project: The goal of this project is to better understand immigrant adolescents' experiences with five social emotional competencies, which include self-awareness (e.g., ethnic-racial identity), self-management (e.g., self-regulation), responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness, as well as how these may relate to their cultural backgrounds.
Past Research
Project CaLM: The implementation of a mindfulness-based intervention in order to understand and improve self-regulatory skills in low-income and ethnic minority children.
Project CaLM Follow-Up: Sought input from parents of Project CaLM to learn about their family beliefs on culture, family, parenting and mindfulness.
Family Diversity Experiences: Aimed at understanding the unique racial experiences of low-income and ethnic minority families as well as the development implications of such experiences.
Project Globalization, Resilience, and Child Equity (GRACE): Focused on sources of both stress and resilience among preschoolers and their parents and teachers. In this project, we studied preschooler's self-regulation, parents' experiences with acculturation stress, and the ways in which early childhood teachers support preschoolers in the classroom.
Project CaLM Follow-Up: Sought input from parents of Project CaLM to learn about their family beliefs on culture, family, parenting and mindfulness.
Family Diversity Experiences: Aimed at understanding the unique racial experiences of low-income and ethnic minority families as well as the development implications of such experiences.
Project Globalization, Resilience, and Child Equity (GRACE): Focused on sources of both stress and resilience among preschoolers and their parents and teachers. In this project, we studied preschooler's self-regulation, parents' experiences with acculturation stress, and the ways in which early childhood teachers support preschoolers in the classroom.
