Toddlers' Responses to Strangers Study
This study is looking at how toddlers react to meeting new people from different racial backgrounds. Researchers want to see if a child's reaction to strangers is influenced by their race, personality (temperament), the variety of people they see in their daily lives, and the diversity of their neighborhood. Your child, if they are between 13 and 24 months old and developing typically, could participate. The study will observe your child's "stranger wariness" (how cautious they are around new people) and "social preference" (who they seem to prefer interacting with) over an average of 10 years. The study is currently recruiting up to 100 children.
- Study design
- This is an observational study, meaning researchers will watch and record children's reactions without giving any treatments. It plans to include up to 100 participants.
- What's involved
- Participation involves one 1-hour visit to the lab on the UC Santa Cruz campus. During this visit, your child will interact with two adults for about 20 minutes, and you will complete two surveys.
- Compensation
- Not stated in the trial record.
- Follow-up
- Researchers will measure social wariness and social preference through study completion, an average of 10 years.
AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.
Toddlers' Responses to Strangers
At a glance
Conditions
NCT06550206
Where you'd take part
This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.
Social Science 2 Building
Santa Cruz, Californiastudy coordinator listed
Recruiting
Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.
Study leadership
- Hyesung Hwang, PhD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · University of California Santa Cruz
Who to contact
Opens a ready-to-send draft in your own email app — review before sending.
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Inclusion
What this trial measures
- Social WarinessThrough study completion, an average of 10 years
children's social wariness as assessed by the time that the child first vocalized, touched the stranger, and the duration of time that the child stayed near their parent in seconds standardized and averaged to create a composite score.
- Social PreferenceThrough study completion, an average of 10 years
Social preference will be coded by observing toddler behavior and assigning the following codes: 1 = did not take the toy from either stranger, 2 = took toy from familiar race stranger, 3 = took toy from unfamiliar race stranger, 4 = took toy or played with both strangers simultaneously.