Rina Eiden‘s research focuses on understanding developmental trajectories among children at risk for maladjustment due to multiple adversities linked to parental substance abuse, as well as early childhood interventions designed to ameliorate these risks and promote competence. Her studies, many of which follow cohorts of children across multiple developmental stages (e.g., birth to adolescence), seek to understand developmental mechanisms that may explain the association between parental risk factors and child outcomes (e.g., infant-parent attachment, parent-child self-regulation, individual differences in children’s autonomic and stress reactivity, and immune/inflammatory mechanisms).  She has a particular interest in prenatal and early childhood interventions for substance using parents, with the goal of promoting family health, including positive developmental cascades for children.

Current projects include:

• a randomized clinical trial to promote co-parenting and reduce father hazardous drinking in expectant parents;
• a translational (human-animal) study of prenatal tobacco and cannabis exposure effects on middle childhood outcomes in a sample recruited in pregnancy;
• developmental pathways to violence, victimization, and substance use in a sample exposed to cocaine and other substances in utero;
• a collaborative study on the effects of prenatal cocaine on early brain functional connectivity and behavior; and
• collaborations on two randomized clinical trials: 1) to enhance alternatives to eating in infancy, and 2) to prevent postpartum smoking relapse by breastfeeding promotion.