Dr Séguin's research explores the cognitive and emotional aspects of mental health and also studies risk factors for alcoholism and hypertension. His clinical training in cognitive models allows him to work on cognitive schemes and scripts as well as on information processing models and underlying brain function. His doctoral thesis (McGill University, 1995) focused on the neuropsychology of physical aggression. Further work broadened his interest in aggression to include hyperactivity and other forms of externalising behaviour problems. A longitudinal study beginning at birth examines the development of externalising disorders and other self-regulation issues in young children through a cognitive development perspective. One of the main hypotheses of this work is that many externalising problems are not so much the result of a learning process but of a failure to learn self-regulation. Dr Séguin's research interest aims to understand the physiological, genetic and environmental underpinnings of this failure. Are these problems due to perinatal events, parenting failures, cognitive and neuropsychological limitations, difficult behaviour which requires greater effort to regulate, or a combination of these reasons? In which contexts are difficulties likely to occur? What is the specific link between self-regulation impairments and behaviour problems? Could early interventions designed to support parents of at-risk children have an impact on children's self-regulation development?
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