Department of psychology

About the DepartmentDepartment Resources For Our Alumni & Friends Participate in Research

Kathryn A. Kerns, Ph.D.

Education: Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook (1987)

Research Interests

My research explores how and why children’s relationships with attachment figures influence their social and emotional development, with a focus on the later middle childhood period.  For example, recent work in our lab has documented how attachment is related to children’s emotion regulation.  Further, this research tests whether individual differences in emotion regulation can explain why securely attached children form more competent relationships with peers and are less likely to shows signs of psychopathology.  A specific focus of recent work is developing and testing models which can help us understand how attachment, in combination with other risk and protective factors, may predict the development of anxiety symptoms.  I am also interested in questions regarding the nature of attachment (e.g., which social partners can function as attachment figures?) and measurement work on the best approaches to assessing attachment in middle childhood.

Courses Frequently Taught

• Social Development (undergraduate)
• Social Development (graduate)
• Experimental Research Methods (graduate)
  

Recent Publications

Kerns, K.A., Abraham, M.M., Schlegelmilch, A., & Morgan, T.A.  (2007).  Mother-child attachment in later middle childhood: Assessment approaches and associations with mood and emotion regulation.  Attachment and Human Development, 9, 33-53.

Kerns, K.A. (2008).  Attachment in middle childhood.  In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds), Handbook of Attachment (2nd edition) (pp. 366 - 382).  N.Y.: Guilford..

Kerns, K. A., Brumariu, L. E., & Abraham, M. M. (2008).  Homesickness at summer camp: Associations with the mother-child relationship, social self-concept, and peer relationships in middle childhood.  Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 52, 473 - 498.

Brumariu, L. E., & Kerns, K. A. (2008).  Mother-child attachment and social anxiety symptoms in middle childhood.  Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29, 393 - 402.

Booth-LaForce, C., & Kerns, K. A. (2009).  Child-parent attachment relationships, peer relationships, and peer group functioning.  In K. H. Rubin, W. Bukowski, & B. Laursen (Eds.), Handbook of Peer Interactions, Peer Relationships, and Peer Group Functioning (pp. 490 - 507).  N.Y.: Guilford.

Kerns, K.A. (2009).  Developmental transformations in attachment in middle childhood.  Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 33 - 34.

Seibert, A.C., & Kerns, K.A.  (2009).  Attachment figures in middle childhood.  International Journal of Behavioral Development, 33, 347 - 355..

Brumariu, L.E., & Kerns, K.A. (In press).  Parent-child attachment and internalizing symptomatology in childhood and adolescence: A review of empirical findings and future directions.  Development and Psychopathology.