People

Dr. Alice Schermerhorn

I am interested in children's adaptation to family-related stressors, and temperament-related individual differences in adaptation to stress. I'm also interested in examining mechanisms underlying associations between stress and psychological adjustment, including neurophysiological, adrenocortical, and emotional and cognitive processes. In addition, I'm interested in children's influence on family processes.

Hannah Woolfolk

Graduate Student

My research interests focus on children's reactions to everyday stressors, including neurophysiological components and effects of stress reactivity. I am interested in how stressors in childhood, such as parental conflict, can produce poor behavioral outcomes, including internalizing and externalizing problems. Furthermore, I am interested in how other individual, biological differences, such as temperamental characteristics, interact with and increase the risk for behavior problems in later childhood and adolescence. My hope is to discover concrete, physiological differences for individuals that may help us identify which children are at risk for behavior problems, and how everyday stressors can increase these risks for certain kids.

Holly Weldon

Research Coordinator

My research interests focus on the ways in which children's reactions to stressors are influenced by close interpersonal relationships, and how these associations can impact child development. Specifically, I am interested in how relationships within family systems, such as interparental conflict, can influence these processes for better or for worse. I am also interested in examining the neurobiological and physiological mechanisms underlying these associations and hope to take these findings identify at-risk children and develop intervention or prevention programs which may be implemented to increase healthy, positive development in children with high risk for psychological maladjustment.

Spring 2014 Lab Members