Melissa L. Sturge-Apple, Ph.D.

Research

My research interests concentrate on examining interrelatedness among family systems from a process-oriented perspective with my primary focus on understanding associations between interparental and parenting domains and implications for child development.  As such, my research examines models of affective spillover which may elucidate possible underlying processes and contextual variables that may alter the relationship between interparental discord and parenting and ultimately impact children’s adjustment.  Within this integrative framework, my interests lie in exploring four general aims: (1) understanding relationships between different types of interparental discord (i.e., hostility, withdrawal, dysphoria, violence), different dimensions of parenting (i.e., parental responsiveness, behavioral control and psychological control), and children’s functioning (2) identifying mediating mechanisms of spillover between interparental and parenting domains including: parent physiological arousal and regulation, parent cognitive processes, and co-parenting relationship quality, (3) identifying mediating mechanisms in associations between parenting difficulties arising from interparental conflict and children’s adjustment, and (4) explicating possible moderating conditions (i.e., parent and child gender, interpersonal attributes, parenting role commitment) in relationships between interparental discord and parenting.  My research also explores how a developmental perspective may inform or shape the associations between these family subsystems by 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 from a background in quantitative psychology, I am also interested in novel applications of statistical methods for examining developmental questions, particularly within latent variable modeling techniques.

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

• Steve Boker, University of Virginia   
  http://people.virginia.edu/~smb3u/
• Dante Cicchetti, University of Minnesota 
  http://cehd.umn.edu/icd/faculty/Cicchetti.html
• Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame 
  http://psychology.nd.edu/people/faculty/cummings-mark/
• Patrick Davies, University of Rochester 
  http://www.psych.rochester.edu/faculty/davies/
• Wendi Heinzelman, University of Rochester 
  http://www.ece.rochester.edu/~wheinzel/
• Zeljko Ignjatovic, University of Rochester
  http://www.ece.rochester.edu/people/faculty/ZIgnjatovic.php
• Joe Rausch, University of Minnesota 
  http://www.psych.umn.edu/people/faculty/rausch.html
• Fred Rogosch, University of Rochester
• Sheree Toth, University of Rochester 
  http://www.psych.rochester.edu/faculty/toth/