Delaina Carlson

Human Development and Family Sciences

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Entered the Program: 2023

Hometown: Meadville, Pennsylvania

Current program:

  • Ph.D., Human Development and Family Sciences
  • Area of Specialization: Child and Adolescent Development

Previous Education: 

  • B.A., Applied Developmental Psychology
  • M.A., Human Development and Family Sciences

Research Interests: 

  • Self-Regulation
  • Early Childhood Development
  • Parenting
  • Child Care and Community Programming
  • Health and Wellness Promotion
  • Health Behaviors, such as eating behaviors, sleep and physical activity
  • Screen Media Usage

Assistantship Experience:

Major Advisor:

Curriculum Vitae

Delaina Carlson is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Her research explores the influence of individual, family, and environmental factors on children’s development during early childhood, with a specific focus on social-emotional development, health and well-being, and the systems that support families, such as early child care and education and parent education programs. Delaina’s work is shaped by her background working in early childhood care and education, Early Intervention, and child care financial assistance. She is an alumna of the University of Pittsburgh’s Applied Developmental Psychology program and the Media and Health Behaviors Laboratory at Dartmouth College, where she contributed to several NIH-funded projects.

Publications:

Brand, J., Stanger, C., Borowy, C., Shelto, E., Carlson, D., Yang, M.-J., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. (2026). Negative affect mediates the association between negative news exposure and eye-tracking measures of attentional bias to food and alcohol cues among college students. PLOS One, 21(4), e0342572. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0342572

Cook, K.D., Lombardi, C., & Carlson, D. (2026). Early Head Start services available to and experienced by families and children. Child & Youth Care Forum. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-026-09943-2

Carlson, D., Cook, K.D., and Lombardi, C. (2025). Who has access to early head start home-visiting and center-based services? Storrs, CT: UConn Collaboratory on School and Child Health. Available from: http://csch.uconn.edu/.

Emond, J. A., Renier, T. J., Yeum, D., Carlson, D. D., Ballarino, G. A., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. (2025). Association between the Taq1A polymorphism and problematic media use in preadolescent children. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1395957. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1395957

Dorris, H. J., Carlson, D. D., Ballarino, G. A., Lopez, N. V., & Emond, J. A. (2025). The Performance of Ankle‐and Waist‐Based Accelerometry in Quantifying Physical Activity Intensity Among 6‐to 24‐Month‐Year‐Olds: A Semistructured Laboratory Study. Child: Care, Health and Development, 51(1), e70035. https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.70035

Yeum, D., Renier, T. J., Masterson, T. D., Carlson, D. D., Ballarino, G. A., Lansigan, R. K., Loos, R. J. F., Emond, J. A., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. (2025). Genetic associations with consumption of palatable foods in the absence of hunger in response to food cues in children. Pediatric Obesity, e13168. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.13168

Huang, R., Chazan-Cohen, R., & Carlson, D. (2024). Early Family Conflict and Behavioral Outcomes in Children from Low-Income Families: The Indirect Effects of Parental Depression and Parenting Practices. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(12), 1664. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21121664

Yeum, D., Renier, T. J., Carlson, D. D., Ballarino, G. A., Lansigan, R. K., Meyer, M. L., Loos, R. J. F., Emond, J. A., Masterson, T. D., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. (2024). Genetic associations with neural reward responsivity to food cues in children. Frontiers in Nutrition, 11, 1387514. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2024.1387514

Godzik, C. M., Carlson, D. D., Pashchenko, O. I., Ballarino, G. A., & Emond, J. A. (2024). Within-child associations between sleep quality and emotional self-regulation over 6 months among preschool-aged (3- to 5-year-old) children. Frontiers in Sleep, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/frsle.2024.1420245

Emond, J. A., Carlson, D., Ballarino, G., & Domoff, S. E. (2024). Validating the problematic media use measure in preschool-aged children: Associations with children’s screen media use, bothersome pestering to use screen media, and emotional self-regulation. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 5(3: Fall 2024). https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000135

Zhang, Z., Carlson, D., Gilbert-Diamond, D., & Emond, J. A. (2024). Associations between sleep and appetitive traits in higher-income preschoolers: A six-month study. Appetite, 196, 107254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107254

Renier, T. J., Yeum, D., Emond, J. A., Lansigan, R. K., Ballarino, G. A., Carlson, D. D., Loos, R. J. F., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. (2023). Elucidating pathways to pediatric obesity: A study evaluating obesity polygenic risk scores related to appetitive traits in children. International Journal of Obesity (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-023-01385-3

Yeum, D., Jimenez, C. A., Emond, J. A., Meyer, M. L., Lansigan, R. K., Carlson, D. D., Ballarino, G. A., Gilbert-Diamond, D., & Masterson, T. D. (2023). Differential neural reward reactivity in response to food advertising medium in children. Frontiers in neuroscience, 17, 1052384. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1052384

Yeum, D., Gilbert-Diamond, D., Masterson, T. D., Carlson, D. D., Ballarino, G. A., Lansigan, R. K., Renier, T. J., & Emond, J. A. (2023). Associations between behavioral self-regulation and external food cue responsiveness (EFCR) in preschool-age children and evidence of modification by parenting style. Appetite, 106637. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106637

Brand, J., Carlson, D., Ballarino, G., Lansigan, R. K., Emond, J., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. (2022). Attention to food cues following media multitasking is associated with cross-sectional BMI among adolescents. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 992450. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.992450

Conference Presentations:

Carlson, D., Chazan-Cohen, R., Kim, L., Coburn, M.K., Baez, S., McQuiston, S., Mateo-Marin, J. & Lombardi, C. (2026, November). Connecticut Early Years: Bringing comprehensive services to infants and toddlers in child care. Paper presented at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Carlson, D., Kim, L., Lombardi, C., & Chazan-Cohen, R. (2026, November). Associations between parenting stress among working parents and toddler health behaviors. Paper presented at the American Public Health Association 2026 Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.

Kim, L., Chazan-Cohen, R., Carlson, D., Sabelli, R., & Lombardi, C. (2026, November). Assessing the role of Connecticut Early Years in facilitating access to services: Family needs and service alignment. Poster presented at the American Public Health Association 2026 Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX.

Carlson, D., Chazan-Cohen, R., Kim, L., & Lombardi, C. (2026, October). The Importance of Family Goals for Determining Connecticut Early Years Services. Paper presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health Congress, Toronto, ON.

Chazan-Cohen, R., Carlson, D., Kim, L., Coburn, M.K., & Lombardi, C. (2026, October). Bringing Home Visiting Expertise to Community Child Care Settings: An Overview of CT Early Years. Paper presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health Congress, Toronto, ON.

Kim, L., Lombardi, C., Carlson, D., & Chazan-Cohen, R. (2026, October). Descriptive Insights into Service Modality and Primary Focus in Connecticut Early Years. Paper presented at the World Association for Infant Mental Health Congress, Toronto, ON.

Carlson, D., & Chazan-Cohen, R. (2026, June). Differing perspectives on young children’s self-regulation: How the role of home and classroom environments vary by reporter. Poster presented at the National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA.

Kim, L., Lombardi, C., Carlson, D., Baez, S., Chazan-Cohen, R. (2026, June). Perceptions and Experiences of Family Consultants Implementing Connecticut Early Years: Integrated Comprehensive Services in Community-Based Child Care. Poster presented at the National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA.

Chazan-Cohen, R., Carlson, D., Kim, L., Coburn, M.K., & Lombardi, C. (2026, June). Examples of successful alignment between early childhood systems: What does it take and what does it mean for children and families? Paper presented at the National Research Conference on Early Childhood, Arlington, VA.

Zhang, Z., Carlson, D., Gilbert-Diamond, D., Emond, J. (2026, April). The Association between Parenting Styles and Added Sugar Intake in Preschool-Aged Children. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Behavioral Medicine, Chicago, IL.

Lombardi, C., Chazan-Cohen, R., Kim, L., & Carlson, D. (2025, November). Early insights from Connecticut Early Years: Integrating comprehensive services in community-based infant-toddler child care settings. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management, Seattle, WA.

Carlson, D., Huang, R., & Chazan-Cohen, R. (2025, May). Early Family Conflict as Precursors of Children’s Later Behavioral Outcomes: Underlying Mechanisms. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.

Carlson, D., & Chazan-Cohen, R. (2025, May). Associations between toddler social emotional behavior, household chaos and parental sensitivity in a low-income sample. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.

Renier, T., Carlson, D., Gilbert-Diamond, D., & Emond, J. (2024, November). Developing a Composite Obesogenic Eating Risk Score From the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire. OBESITY (Vol. 32, pp. 73-73).

Zhang, Z., Yeum, D., Carlson, D., Gilbert-Diamond, D., & Emond, J. (2024, November). Validating a short version of the external food cue responsiveness scale (EFCR-7) in preadolescents. OBESITY (Vol. 32, pp. 74-74).

Emond JA, Carlson D, Ballarino G, Ye H, Dorris H, Lopez NV. The performance of ankle-based accelerometry in quantifying physical activity intensity among 6-to-24-year-olds. Accepted as an oral presentation to the Society for Behavioral Medicine 2024 annual meeting. March 15, 2024. Philadelphia, PA.

Emond J., Ballarino G., Carlson D., Lansigan R., Godzik C., & Gilbert-Diamond, D. Disordered sleep and emotional self-regulation in a prospective cohort of preschool-age children. The 36th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (SLEEP 2022). Charlotte, North Carolina. June 5, 2022.

Delaina Carlson