The center is devoted to the integration of clinical service delivery and research practice to promote optimal mental health care for young children (birth to five years old) and their families. Dickstein has pursued a thematic line of research focused on the importance of multiple levels of the family context for understanding early childhood development. Her work applies a family-focused perspective to examine processes that explain optimal and non-optimal development in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who develop in risk contexts.