Clinical & Social Sciences in Psychology

FACULTY DIRECTORY

 

Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Psychology

 

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, 2002: Developmental Psychology

Minor in Quantitative Psychology

 

Contact Information:

Department of Clinical & Social Sciences in Psychology

University of Rochester

RC Box 270266

Rochester, NY 14627-0266

USA

 

Office: Meliora Hall 471

Telephone: (585) 275-2991 ext 257

Email: melissa.sturge-apple@rochester.edu

 

 

 

Research

 

My research broadly focuses on understanding how children develop in the context of family relationships.  My work is guided by conceptualizations derived from developmental psychopathology, emotional security theory, family systems theory, and ethological perspectives on the family.  Within this integrative framework, my interests lie in exploring three general aims: (1) understanding relationships between interparental discord, parenting, and children's functioning (2) identifying mechanisms underlying these associations including physiological and cognitive processes, and (3) exploring how and why patterns of relationships among marital and parenting subsystems may change as a function of the developmental stage of the child or family. Finally, drawing on a love of all things statistical, I am also interested in applications of latent variable models for examining developmental questions.

 

Currently I am exploring these interests in two longitudinal research studies with my co-investigators.  The first one examines multi-level processes in mother-child attachment relationships during toddlerhood. Within this project, we are also developing new methods for capturing family dynamics in psychological research including wireless distance and physiological monitoring systems. The second research project examines the impact of interparental violence on parenting practices and implications for children's adjustment.

 

 

Recent Publications

 

  • Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., Cicchetti, D, & Cummings, E. M.  (in press). The role of mothers’ and fathers’ adrenocortical reactivity in spillover between interparental conflict and parenting practices. Journal of Family Psychology
  • Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., Winter, M. A., Cummings, E. M., & Schermerhorn, A. (in press). Interparental conflict and children’s school adjustment: The explanatory role of children’s internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships. Developmental Psychology.
  • Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Cicchetti, D., & E. M. Cummings. (in press). Adrenocortical    underpinnings of children’s psychological reactivity to interparental conflict.  Child Development.
  • Toth, S. L., Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. & Sturge-Apple, M. L. (in press). Maternal depression, children’s attachment security, and representational development: An organizational perspective. Child Development.
  • 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., Cicchetti, D. & E. M. Cummings. (2007). The role of child adrenocortical functioning in pathways between interparental conflict and child maladjustment.  Developmental Psychology, 43, 918-930.
  • Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., & Sturge-Apple, M. L. (2007). Interactions of child maltreatment and 5-HTT and monoamine oxidase A polymorphisms: Depressive symptomatology among adolescents from low-socioeconomic status backgrounds. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 1161-1180.
  • Sturge-Apple, M., L., Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (2006). The impact of interparental hostility and withdrawal on parental emotional unavailability and children's adjustment difficulties. Child Development, 77, 1623-1641.
  • Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., & Cummings, E. M. (2006). Hostility and withdrawal in marital conflict: Effects on parental emotional unavailability and inconsistent discipline. Journal of Family Psychology, 20, 227-238.
  • Davies, P. T., & Sturge-Apple, M. L. (2006). The impact of domestic violence on children’s development. In T. L. Nicholls & J. Hamel (Eds.), Family interventions in domestic violence: A handbook of gender-inclusive theory and treatment (pp. 165-189). New York: Springer.
  • 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.
  • Sturge-Apple, M.L., Davies, P.T., Boker, S. M., & Cummings, E. M. (2004). Interparental discord and parenting: Testing the moderating role of child and parent gender. Parenting: Science and Practice,4, 365-384.
  • Davies, P. T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., & Cummings, E. M. (2004). Interdependencies among interparental discord and parenting practices: The role of adult attributes and relationship characteristics.  Development and Psychopathology, 16, 773-797.
  • Sturge-Apple, M.L., Gondoli, D.M., Bonds, D.D., & Salem, L.N. (2003). Mothers’ responsive parenting practices and psychological experience of parenting as mediators of the relation between marital conflict and mother-preadolescent relational negativity. Parenting: Science and Practice, 3, 327-355.
  • Bonds, D.D., Gondoli, D.M., Sturge-Apple, M.L., & Salem, L.N. (2002).  Parenting stress as a mediator of the relation between parenting support and optimal parenting.  Parenting: Science and Practice, 2, 409-435.

 

 

Recent Courses Taught

 

CSP – 514 – Structural Equation Modeling

CSP – 282 – Abnormal Psychology

CSP – 350 – Honors Seminar in Psychology

CSP – 171 – Social and Emotional Development

CSP – 211 – Statistical Methods

 

Grants Received

 

2007 – 2011: Dynamical Systems Tools: Modeling multi-level processes in parent-child relations. National Institute of Nursing Research, R21 NR010857-01.  Role: Principle Investigator.  Funded: $1,190,373.

 

2002-2005: Interparental Conflict and Parenting: The Role of Gender, National Institute of Mental Health, F32 MH 66596. Role: Principle Investigator.  Funded: $121,124.

 

Recent Honors and Distinctions

 

Reuben Hill Research and Theory Award (2007) – National Council on Family Relations.  Co-winner with Patrick Davies and Mark Cummings for article "Hostility and Withdrawal in Marital Conflict: Effects on Parental Emotional Unavailability and Inconsistent Discipline" Journal of Family Psychology, 2006.20(2):227-238.

 

Current Editorial Board Member of Development and Psychopathology

 

Ad-hoc Reviewer for: Child Development, Child Development Perspectives, Child: Care, Health and Development, Developmental Psychology, Journal of Early Adolescence, Journal of Family Psychology, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Research in Adolescence.

 

The Philip More Graduate Dissertation Fellowship, University of Notre Dame (2001)

 

Research Collaborators

 

 

Last Modified: Thursday, 02-Jul-2009 14:40:24 EDT