Welcome to the EDEN Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania

Our mission is to study individual differences in the development of the social, emotional, and behavioral skills that underpin a successful, healthy, and happy life. We study what causes people to differ in these skills through a multi-method and multi-level approach. We study genetic influences, brain function and structure, physiology, attention, and temperament, as well as parenting, community, school factors and broader, structural influences of society and culture. We seek to inform intervention and treatment approaches to improve the well-being of children and families.

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Coping with disruptive behaviors in children, including aggression, defiance, argumentativeness, and rule-breaking, can be incredibly difficult. We understand the challenges facing parents and families dealing with these types of behavior problems. Many decades of research have established effective strategies that parents can use to better manage child behavior and reduce stress in the family. There are also established gold-standard interventions and treatments when children are diagnosed with clinically-significant behavior problems, including conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder. Please see our Parent Resources for more information about disruptive behavior disorders in children, parent strategies for dealing with difficult child behavior, and information on current diagnosis and treatment options.

For Parents
The EDEN Lab is so overjoyed to congratulate our first clinical psychology doctoral graduate, Samantha Perlstein! She successfully defended her dissertation in Spring of 2024, followed by the completion of her pre-doctoral internship at Duke University! This weekend, she officially graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s Clinical Training Program with a Ph.D. and will be continuing her career as a post-doctoral scholar at Georgetown University. Good luck in all you do, Sam! 💙🩶🤍❤️
Dr. Rebecca Waller at the 2025 Society for Research in Child Development conference! #srcd2025

Dr. Rebecca Waller at the 2025 Society for Research in Child Development conference! #SRCD2025

A huge congrats to EDEN Lab seniors, Sadie Kilar and Miranda Cochran, for their presentation at the 58th annual convention for the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) in Philly last week!🌟✨

Welcome to EDEN, María Álvarez Voces! María is a visiting doctoral student from the UNDERISK group at the University of Santiago de Compostela 🇪🇸 who studies conduct disorders in females. We are so excited to have her join the team for the next few weeks! 💛❤️

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