The research aims first to describe cognitive development of externalizing and internalizing disorders, explain it, and identify avenues for prevention and intervention. The results of the research can thus fuel reflection surrounding parental and clinical practices in the community, but also for other researchers who aim to establish evidence-based best practices.
Dr. Séguin's research focuses primarily on the cognitive and emotional aspects of mental health and substance use.
His doctoral work (McGill University, 1995) focused primarily on the neuropsychological aspects of physical aggression. Subsequent work expanded the conceptual basis of his research to include other externalizing and internalizing disorders, such as depression and anxiety and suicidal behaviors and ideation. A longitudinal study beginning at birth in 1996 allowed him to examine the early years of development of externalizing disorders and other self-regulation disorders from the perspective of cognitive development. One of the important hypotheses of this work proposes that externalizing disorders are not so much the result of learning (for example, we do not necessarily learn to be aggressive) as a lack of learning of self-regulation (we do not necessarily learn not to be aggressive). don't learn not to be aggressive). Self-regulation would therefore be acquired during development but in interaction with the psychosocial environment, the family, teachers, peers. Research also focuses on the physiological, genetic and environmental bases of this lack of learning. A second longitudinal study started in 2009 during pregnancy allows us to go back even earlier in the development of children and to better understand the role of stress during major transitions and puberty.
Does the origin come from perinatal events? Does it lie more in parental practices? Is the child facing intellectual or even neurodevelopmental limits? Is the child's temperament difficult to regulate? Are these factors combined with each other? In what contexts do difficulties manifest themselves? What are the likely protective mechanisms? How specific is the correspondence of self-regulatory problems to behavioral disorders? Can early interventions aimed at supporting parents of children at risk have an impact on the development of self-regulation? The monitoring and analysis of these two studies are still at the center of the activities of the DePSA lab founded in 2010 with two colleagues specializing in psychoeducation and prevention.
A study shows that harsh parenting practices in childhood have long-term repercussions for children’s brain development.
More than $ 7 million in grants to advance research in mother-child health