Helping South African children and teens build stronger emotion control and resilience
Official title: Resilient Emotion Regulation Development in a South African Birth Cohort
Funded at Columbia Univ New York Morningside · NIH-11138645 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks at how supportive experiences help children and teens in South Africa manage their emotions and develop stronger, more resilient brains.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Columbia Univ New York Morningside NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (New York, United States) |
| Project start | August 2, 2023 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $558,251 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH130578-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11138645 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are children and adolescents (and their caregivers) from the Cape Town birth cohort, especially those who experienced early-life adversity.
✕Less likely to help
People who are not part of the Cape Town cohort, live far from the study sites, or are seeking immediate clinical treatment may not experience direct benefit from this research.
What this research studies
You would be part of a long-term birth cohort in Cape Town where researchers follow children from before birth into adolescence. The team uses brain scans, detailed behavior testing, and thorough information about family and neighborhood experiences, and they work with the local community to guide the research. Advanced data analysis ties protective factors—like caregiving, schooling, or social supports—to patterns of brain development and emotion control. The goal is to explain why some young people do well despite early hardship and to suggest ways communities can better support youth mental health.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could point to practical supports and programs that help children avoid mental health problems and improve emotional coping.
How similar studies have gone: Previous studies in high-income countries have linked protective experiences to better emotion regulation, but applying multimodal brain imaging and community-guided methods in a South African birth cohort is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Columbia Univ New York Morningside
New York, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Tottenham, Nim — Columbia Univ New York Morningside
- Study coordinator: Tottenham, Nim
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Emotion Regulation Help for Youth in Child Welfare to Prevent Substance Use
A tablet-based program helps early adolescents in the child welfare system learn emotion regulation skills to reduce future substance use.
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A Tablet-Based Emotion Regulation Program for Surrogate Decision-Makers of ICU Patients on Ventilation
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Emotion regulation in teens in outpatient treatment for co-occurring disorders
This project studies how teens in an outpatient program for alcohol use and other mental health issues use emotion regulation skills and how this affects their treatment outcomes.
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Helping South African teens build strong emotional control
Researchers are learning how supportive experiences help adolescents in Cape Town develop healthy emotional control and brain resilience.
-
Peer-delivered emotion-regulation training to prevent mental health problems in firefighter trainees
A peer-led program teaches new firefighters emotion-regulation skills to help prevent PTSD, depression, anxiety, and problematic alcohol use during the early years on the job.
-
Virtual Still Face and Deep Learning to Understand Infant Emotion and Caregiver Interactions
A study using video and wearable sensors to understand how infants and their caregivers regulate emotions in real life, with advanced computer methods to analyze how they interact.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.