Tantrums and Stress

During what was to be a simple grocery run, a parent exasperatedly drags a shrieking toddler out of the candy aisle, drives home to the wails of a tantrum from the backseat and realizes a fourth of their grocery list was forgotten. Though this is a common scenario, the Child Development Creative Inquiry project, mentored by Dr. Jennifer Bisson and Dr. Sarah Sanborn from the Department of Psychology, seeks to help parents navigate the stresses of parenthood.

The Child Development Creative Inquiry project works as three sub-teams: parental attachment; infant crying and tantrums; and effects of crying on infant cognition. These teams are very productive. Each team regularly submits their findings to professional conferences. This year, the infant crying and tantrums group addressed how infant crying triggers stress responses and they attracted international attention.

In this study, participants watched videos of crying and tantrums while wearing smart bracelets that measure electrodermal activity; after the video they rated their subjective stress level. The team found a significant difference between the physiological reaction of men and women. While all non-parents reported higher stress than parents, men had a higher rate of electrodermal activity, which is a measurement of body heat and sweat. When electrodermal activity goes up, a person is likely experiencing an intense emotional state. The team’s abstract was accepted at the International Congress for Infant Studies. Due to COVID-19, the event was cancelled, but an invitation to such a well-regarded event is an achievement.

While the Creative Inquiry project’s research benefits the discipline as a whole, team members benefit from their experiences too. “I want to be a child developmental psychologist and just to learn from these awesome professors and this experience will definitely help me in my future career,” Bella Powell, a junior psychology major, said. Through these opportunities, students are developing their research skills while understanding the trials and tribulations of research in psychology. The Child Development Creative Inquiry project is not only expanding on the body of work in the field of child psychology but is supplying the students involved with valuable research tools for their future.