Risk and Protective Factors, Family Environment and (A)Typical Neurodevelopmental Outcomes

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Background

The increasing prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders (including autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, language and learning disorders) implicates an increasing societal impact and a significant burden on children with a diagnosis and their families. Converging evidence from clinical, genetic, neurophysiological, and behavioral studies suggests that early identification of neurodevelopmental markers, prior to a potential diagnosis, offers important advantages in terms of early intervention, providing a good opportunity for developmental benefits by taking advantage of early brain plasticity. This urges for more research into the investigation of early-life risk and protective factors underlying neurodevelopmental outcomes. Determining how risk and protective factors work together, establishing potential mediators (intermediate variables) and moderators (effect modifiers) on developmental outcomes, represents a significant challenge for shedding light on the complex pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental disorders.

This Research Topic is aiming to explore and discuss new evidence on risk and protective factors for neurodevelopmental outcomes and their inter-relationship both in typically developing children and in populations at elevated likelihood of developing neurodevelopmental disorders. Contributors that provide novel experimental approaches and methodology to investigate risk and protective factors, mediators and moderators that impact neurodevelopment in the first years of life are encouraged.

The following themes are welcome:
- Early developmental trajectories in typical populations and in populations at increased likelihood of developing neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g., siblings of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, preterm babies).
- Intrinsic and extrinsic influences on neurodevelopmental outcome and quality of life, such as temperament and emerging cognitive abilities, or family environment, parent-child interaction, or parental health and well-being.
- Potential neurobiological factors mediating or moderating the association between the family environment and child neurodevelopmental outcomes.
- Novel approaches, using a broad range of neural and behavioral measurements (including but not limited to EEG, eye-tracking, MEG, MRI) for early detection of neurodevelopmental biomarkers.
- Novel methodology for data collection and analyses in clinical populations and community samples.

This Research Topic will bring together results and approaches from different domains involving clinical and experimental methods. Studies may be submitted as original articles, review and mini-review articles, systematic reviews, viewpoint/perspective articles, or data reports.

Keywords: neurodevelopmental risk, protective factors, family environment, well-being, siblings, biomarker, early sign, developmental trajectories

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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