Professor of Psychology

Ph.D., West Virginia University, 1995

 

Research

 

My broad area of interest lies in children's socioemotional adaptation and maladaptation within the context of close interpersonal relationships especially in family contexts. My three major research aims include: (a) delineating the emotional, behavioral, and physiological processes underlying links between family and interparental discord and children's social and emotional adjustment; (b) examining the effects on interparental conflict on children in the context of broader family relationships and systems; and (c) charting familial and psychosocial pathways responsible for the risk posed by parental distress and maladjustment. I am particularly interested in taking a developmental psychopathology perspective to understanding children's adaptation from infancy through adolescence. Research addressing these aims is guided by the emotional security theory (Davies & Cummings, 1994; Davies & Sturge-Apple, 2007). The primary assumption of this theory is that family and other interpersonal stressors increase children's risk for psychological maladjustment by undermining their goal of preserving their emotional security. Our work is increasingly guided by evolutionary and ethological conceptualizations.

 

For more information, please visit Dr. Davies' faculty page in the Developmental Program area.

 

Recent Publications

 

• Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., & Cicchetti, D. (in press). Interparental aggression and children’s adrenocortical reactivity: Testing an evolutionary model of allostatic load. Development and Psychopathology.
• Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Cicchetti, D., Manning, L.G., & Zale, E. (2009). Children’s patterns of emotional reactivity to conflict as explanatory mechanisms in links between interpartner aggression and child physiological functioning. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 50, 1384-1391.
• Bascoe, S.M., Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., & Cummings, E.M. (2009). Children’s insecure representations of the interparental relationship and their psychological maladjustment: Children’s peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1740-1751.
• Davies, P.T., & Woitach, M.J. (2008). Children’s emotional security in the interparental relationship. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17, 269-274.
• Davies, P.T., Woitach, M.J., Winter, M.A., & Cummings, E.M. (2008). Children’s insecure representations of the interparental relationship and their school adjustment: The mediating role of attention difficulties. Child Development, 79, 1570-1582.
• Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E.M. (2007).  The role of child adrenocortical functioning in pathways between forms of interparental conflict and child maladjustment.  Developmental Psychology, 43, 918-930.
• Davies, P.T., & Sturge-Apple, M.L. (2007).  Advances in the formulation of emotional security theory:  An ethologically-based perspective.  Advances in Child Behavior and Development, 35, 87-137.
• Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Winter, M.A., Cummings, E.M., & Farrell, D. (2006). Child adaptational development in contexts of interparental conflict over time. Child Development, 77, 218-233.
• Davies, P.T., & Cummings, E.M. (2006). Interparental discord, family process, and developmental psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti & D.J. Cohen (Eds.), Developmental Psychopathology: Vol. 3: Risk, Disorder, and Adaptation (2nd ed., pp. 86-128).  New York: Wiley & Sons.

 

Recent Conference Presentation Handouts

 

• Winter, M.A., Davies, P.T., & Hightower, A.D. (2007, March). Preschool Children's Representations of Neighborhood Quality. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA.
  Download a copy in PDF format (for personal use only)
• Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Winter, M.A., & Cummings, E.M. (2005, April). Increasing the Specificity of Destructive Forms of Marital Conflict: Implications for Child Adaptation to Conflict Over Time. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
  Download a copy in PDF format (for personal use only)
• Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Winter, M.A., & Cummings, E.M. (2005, April). Pathways Between Marital Conflict, Child Internal Representations, and Child Adjustment: Testing a Family Model of Security. Poster session to be presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
  Download a copy in PDF format (for personal use only)
• Winter, M., Davies, P.T., & Cummings, E.M. (2005, April). Relations among Family Instability, Parents' Emotional Communication Patterns, and Children's Adaptation. In M. A. Winter (Chair), The Role of Emotional Processes in the Family. Poster symposium to be presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
  Download a copy in PDF format (for personal use only)

 

Recent and Current Graduate Students

 

• Katelin Gedon
  Research Area: Children’s functioning in the context of parent-child emotional relationships
• Rochelle Hentges
  Research Area: Ethological formulations of children’s reactivity to interparental aggression and conflict
• Liviah Manning
  Research Area: Impact of family violence and parenting difficulties on children.
• Meredith Woitach, M.A.
  Research Area:  Ethological approaches to understanding child functioning in family and interpersonal contexts.
• Sonnette Bascoe, M.A.
  Research Areas: Family processes, with a focus on sibling relationships, and peer relationships.
• Beata Gomulak-Cavicchio, Ph.D. (2010)
  Research Area: Interparental relationship quality, parent-child communication, and children's interpersonal and social competence.
• Marcia Winter, Ph.D. (2006)
  Research Area: Children's coping and adaptation in the context of family discord.

 

Recent Courses Taught

 

• CSP 289 Developmental Child Psychopathology
• CSP 377/378 Exploring Research in Family Psychology I and II
• CSP 560 Family Processes in Childhood
• CSP 562 Developmental Research Methods

 

Grants

 

• 1999-2005: Family Process, Emotional Security, and Child Adjustment, National Institute of Mental Health, R01 MH57318. Role: Principal Investigator.  Funded: $1,878,816. (co-PI: Mark Cummings)
• 2002-2005: Interparental Conflict and Parenting: The Role of Gender, National Institute of Mental Health, F32 MH 66596. Role: Sponsor of Post-Doctoral Fellow Level for Melissa Sturge-Apple.  Funded: $121,124.
• 2003-2005: Processes of Child Risk in Family and Community Contexts, National Institute of Mental Health, F31 MH068057.  Role: Sponsor of Individual National Research Service Award at the Pre-Doctoral Fellow for Marcia Winter.  Funded: $72,464.
• 2004-2010:  Domestic violence, child security, and child mental health.  National Institute of Mental Health, R01 MH071256.  Principal Investigator.  Funded: $2,777,599. (co-PI: Dante Cicchetti).
• 2006-2011:  Family process, emotional security, and child adjustment.  National Institute of Mental Health, R01 MH 57318.  Principal Investigator.  Funded: $3,164,171. (co-PIs: Mark Cummings, Dante Cicchetti(
• 2009-2011: Marital conflict, the role of sibling relationships, and child adjustment, National Institute of Child Health and Development, F31 HD061348. Sponsor of an Individual National Research Service Award at the Predoctoral Level for Sonnette Bascoe. Funded: $32,635.
• 2010-2015: An ethological analysis of children's emotional security, National Institute of Child Health and Development, R01 HD 065425. Principal Investigator. Funded:  $3,109,653. (other PIs: Melissa Sturge-Apple)
• 2010-2015: Emotional processes in families: New methods capturing multiple levels of analysis. National Institute of Child Health and Development, R01 HD060709. Principal Investigator. Funded: $3,352,922. (other PIs: Melissa Sturge-Apple, Wendi Heinzelman, Zeljko, Ignjatovic, Spencer Rosero, Mark Bocko).

 

Recent Honors and Distinctions

 

• Boyd McCandless Early Career Award for Contributions to Developmental Psychology American Psychological Association, Division 7 (Developmental) Award, 2002
• Curent or Recent Editorial Board Member of Child Development, Development and Psychopathology, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, and Journal of Family Psychology.
• Current/Recent Associate Editorships: Developmental Psychology; Development and Psychopathology
• University of Rochester Goergen Award for Distinguished Achievement and Artistry in Undergraduate Education (2002)
• Review Group Standing Member, Psychosocial Development, Risk, and Prevention (PDRP) Study Section, National Institutes of Health
• Golden Key International Honor Society, Honorary Member for Commitment and Outstanding Contributions to Higher Education, University of Rochester Chapter (2006)
• Reuben Hill Research and Theory Award (2007), National Council on Family Relations, co-winner with Melissa Sturge-Apple and Mark Cummings.
• Recent and Current Editorial Board Memberships: Child Development, Development and Psychopathology, Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Partner Abuse, Society for Research in Child Development Review Panel