Research

 

My research broadly focuses on understanding how children develop in the context of family relationships.  My work is guided by conceptualizations derived from emotional security theory, developmental psychopathology and evolutionary-neurodevelopmental theories.  Within this integrative framework, my interests lie in exploring three general aims: (1) understanding how interparental and parent-child relationships impact children's functioning (2) identifying mechanisms underlying these associations including physiological and cognitive processes, and (3) exploring how and why patterns of relationships in the family 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 methodology development including both assessment techniques for family research as well as advanced quantitative methods for capturing family processes.

 

Currently I am examining these interests in four different large-scale studies which are funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development.  More details on current projects can be found at the website for the Rochester Center for Research on Children and Families, which I co-direct along with Patrick Davies.

 

 

Recent Publications

 

Sturge-Apple, M.L., Davies, P.T., Cicchetti, D., & Manning, L.G. (in press).  Interparental violence, maternal emotional unavailability and children's cortisol reactivity to family contexts.  Developmental Psychology.

 

Sturge-Apple, M.L., Skibo, M.A., Rogosch, F.A., Ignjatovic, J., & Heinzelman, W. (in press). The impact of allostatic load on maternal sympathovagal functioning in stressful child contexts: Implications for maladaptive parenting. Development and Psychopathology.

 

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.

 

Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F.A., Toth, S.L., & Sturge-Apple, M.L. (in press).  Normalizing the development of cortisol regulation in maltreated infants through preventive iterventions. Development and Psychopathology.

 

Sturge-Apple, M.L., Davies, P.T., & Cummings, E.M. (2010). Typologies of family functioning: Implications for children's adjustment during the early school years. Child Development, 81, 1320-1335.

 

Sturge-Apple, M.L., Davies, P.T., Cicchetti, D., & Manning, L. (2010).  Mother's parenting practices as explanatory mechanisms in associations between interparental aggression and child adjustment. Partner Abuse.

 

Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F. A., Sturge-Apple, M.L., & Toth, S.L. (2010). Interaction of child maltreatment and 5-HTT polymorphisms: Suicidal ideation among children from low-SES backgrounds. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 4, 1-11.

 

Bascoe, S.M., Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., & Cummings, E.M. (2009). Children's insecure interparental representations and school maladjustment: Children's peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism.  Developmental Psychology, 45, 1740-1751.

 

Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., & Cummings, E.M. (2009).  A process analysis of the transmission of distress from interparental conflict to parenting: Adult relationship security as an explanatory mechanism.  Developmental Psychology, 45, 1761-1773.

 

Sturge-Apple, M.L., Davies, P.T., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E.M.  (2009). The role of mothers' and fathers' adrenocortical reactivity in spillover between interparental conflict and parenting practices. Journal of Family Psychology, 2, 215-225.

 

Toth, S.L., Cicchetti, D., Rogosch, F.A., & Sturge-Apple, M.L. (2009). Maternal depression, children's attachment security, and representational development: An organizational perspective. Child Development, 80, 192-208.

 

Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Cicchetti, D., Manning, L., & 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.

 

Sturge-Apple, M.L., Davies, P.T., Winter, M.A., Cummings, E.M., & Schermerhorn, A. (2008). Interparental conflict and children's school adjustment: The explanatory role of children's internal representations of interparental and parent-child relationships. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1678-1690.

 

Davies, P.T., Sturge-Apple, M.L., Cicchetti, D., & Cummings, E.M. (2008). Adrenocortical underpinnings of children's psychological reactivity to interparental conflict.  Child Development, 79, 6, 1693-1706.

 

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. & Cummings, E.M. (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.

 

 

Recent Courses Taught

 

CSP – 171 – Social and Emotional Development

CSP – 310/311 – Honors Seminar in Psychology

CSP – 377/378 – Exploring Research in Family Psychology I and II

CSP – 514 – Structural Equation Modeling I

CSP – 516 – Structural Equation Modeling II

 

 

Recent and Current Graduate Students

 

Michael Skibo – Research Area: Parenting and Children's Emotion Regulation

 

Jennifer Suor – Research Area: Parenting and Children’s Attachment

 

 

Grants Received

 

Emotional processes in families: New methods capturing multiple levels of analysis.  M.L. Sturge-Apple, Co-PI. Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development, (R01 HD060709).  June 2010 - May 2015; Direct Costs: $3,352,922.

 

An ethological analysis of children's emotional security.  M.L. Sturge-Apple, Co-P.I.  Funded by the National Institute of ChildHealth and Development, (R01 HD 065425); March 2010 - February, 2011; Direct Costs:  $3,109,653.

 

Dynamical systems tools: Modeling multi-level processes in parent-child relations.  M.L. Sturge-Apple, Lead P.I.  Funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (R21 NR010857-01); May 2007 – May 2011; Direct Costs: $1,190,373.

 

Interparental conflict and parenting: The role of gender.  M.L. Sturge-Apple, P.I. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (1F32MH066596-01); September 2002 – September 2005; Direct Costs: $122,124.

 

 

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 - Development and Psychopathology, Journal of Family Psychology.

 

NIH Committee for Scientific Review - Standing Member, Social Psychology, and Personality and Interpersonal Processes (SPIP) Study Section.

 

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

 

 

Research Collaborators

 

Steve Boker, University of Virginia

 

Dante Cicchetti, University of Minnesota

 

Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame

 

Wendi Heinzelman, University of Rochester

 

Zeljko Ignjatovic, University of Rochester