College of Arts and Sciences

Department of Psychological Science

Alice Schermerhorn (Developmental)

Associate Professor

Research and/or Creative Works

Research has shown that family relationships affect children’s outcomes. But which children are most affected? And what mechanisms underlie these associations?

We study children’s socioemotional adjustment in the context of family relationships. Characteristics such as temperament (or early personality characteristics) are particularly important to study, because they may influence children’s responses to their families. Understanding temperament-related individual differences will help us identify which children are likely to function well, and which children might be more likely to need help.
We are also studying mechanisms underlying associations between family relationships and child adjustment, including neuropsychological processes, adrenocortical mechanisms, and cognitive and emotional reactions.
Our research is supported by an NIH Pathway to Independence Award (R00 HD064795; PI: Dr. Alice Schermerhorn)

Publications

Schermerhorn, A.C. (2018). Associations of child emotion recognition with interparental conflict and shy child temperament traits. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
Schermerhorn, A.C. (2018). Children’s appraisals of interparental conflict predict event-related potential components. Developmental Neuropsychology, 1-21. doi:10.1080/87565641.2018.1428327
Schermerhorn, A. C., Bates, J. E., Puce, A., & Molfese, D. L. (2017). Socio-emotionally significant experience and children's processing of irrelevant auditory stimuli. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 112, 52-63.
Schermerhorn, A.C., Bates, J.E., Puce, A., & Molfese, D.L. (2015). Neurophysiological Correlates of Children’s Processing of Interparental Conflict Cues. Journal of Family Psychology, 29, 518-527.
Schermerhorn, A.C., Bates, J.E., Goodnight, J.A., Lansford, J.E., Dodge, K.A., & Pettit, G.S. (2013). Temperament moderates associations between exposure to stress and children’s externalizing problems. Child Development, 84, 1579-1593.
Schermerhorn, A.C., D'Onofrio, B.M., Slutske, W.S., Emery, R.E., Turkheimer, E., Harden, K.P., Heath, A.C., & Martin, N.G. (2012). Offspring ADHD as a risk factor for parental marital problems: Controls for genetic and environmental confounds. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 15, 700 – 713.