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In
accord with the scientist-practitioner model of training in
professional psychology, my scholarly work integrates theory,
research and practice in a concentrated effort to increase our
understanding of the interpersonal processes underlying mental
health and illness and to improve counselor training and practice.
Grounded in attachment theory, my program of research incorporates
three primary components. Foremost among these is the investigation
of family mechanisms and risk factors that contribute to ongoing
psychological development throughout the life cycle. A second
related theme involves the detrimental effects of relational
trauma and loss (i.e., violence, abuse, bereavement, divorce).
A third innovative line of research, directly relevant to my
own educational practices, applies attachment theory to the
supervisory and therapeutic relationships. Results of my research
extend theory in the developmental psychopathology, family systems,
and counseling literatures; generate new lines of interdisciplinary
research to investigate; and inform training, treatment planning
and psychotherapeutic intervention.
A
major goal of my research is to extend the literature by integrating
attachment, family systems, trauma and counseling theories in
empirical studies with diverse samples. My preferred research
is time- and labor-intensive, demanding a wide range of resources,
such as transcription, coding training or services, videotaping
facilities, multi-media technology, large numbers of research
assistants and substantial financial support for longitudinal
studies. Building toward my long-term goal of developing a Family
Attachment Lab funded by state and national agencies, I have
actively pursued advanced assessment training that will allow
me to investigate attachment processes in the whole family.
I am trained to administer and code the Strange Situation, the
most widely used procedure to assess parent-child attachment,
and I am certified for reliability in the coding of the Adult
Attachment Interview (AAI), considered the “gold standard”
in adult attachment measurement. My consulting work for grant
investigators, who have sought my AAI expertise, has partially
funded my own AAI research.
Over
the past year, my lab facility was equipped with the necessary
technology for interviewing and videotaping families in a natural
environment. Currently, we are collecting data for a study entitled,
Family System and Subsystem Predictors of Behavior Problems
in Middle Childhood. Funded by UNT ROP grant and a larger external
grant from the Timberlawn Psychiatric Research Foundation, the
purpose of this study is to investigate the psychological well-being
of 8-10 year-old children in relation to multiple systemic levels
of the family unit (i.e., individual parent mental health, parent-child
attachment, marital quality, coparenting, whole family system).
Results will have implications for therapeutic intervention
and future research on attachment processes in middle-childhood.
In addition, the study will provide supporting data for a large
grant proposal targeting at-risk families and children, which
will be submitted within the next year. Data collection began
in November of 2007 with a target completion date of summer
2009. Currently, the Family Attachment Lab research team consists
of 7 graduate students and 10 undergraduate students.
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