Melissa Sturge-Apple

My research broadly focuses on family processes, parental functioning, and child development. My work is guided by theoretical conceptualizations derived from developmental psychopathology, self-regulation frameworks, evolutionary developmental theories, and parenting process models. My research integrates multiple domains including psychological processes (e.g., emotional, behavioral), neurobiological functioning (e.g., physiological stress response systems, cognitive processes), and ecological (e.g., socioeconomic stress) levels. I am also very interested in how we study families and children with an eye towards novel and innovative assessments (e.g., implicit assessments, observational paradigms) and analysis (e.g., latent profiles, dynamic modeling) of family and child functioning. My interests lie in exploring three separate but interconnected areas of research: 1. My work seeks to identify underlying mechanisms of the interrelations between interparental and parenting domains and child adjustment. My work to date has utilized effective spillover conceptualizations and emotional security as a guide to identifying mechanisms that may account for links between family relationships and children's adjustment. I have increasingly complemented this research with a focus on how evolutionary frameworks may provide further guidance in understanding how children adapt to family adversity. 2. I am very interested in identifying the factors that predict parenting across the range from normative and promotive caregiving behaviors to parental neglect and maltreatment. In particular, emerging conceptual frameworks of parental self-regulation stress the importance of these processes in supporting parents with respect to behavioral regulation and maintenance of their intended socialization goals. Specifically, my work explores three regulatory domains including physiological, neurocognitive, and social cognitive levels of analysis in the determinants of parenting. 3. Although my work has sought to establish the presence of direct effects, it is clear that not all individuals are impacted similarly by family processes. As such, my work also focuses on more precisely identifying sources of heterogeneity in family process models through determining the factors which may moderate (e.g., temperament, neurocognitive factors, risk contexts) pathways of influence. My hope is that this work will inform prevention and intervention efforts with respect to family functioning and child development. To date, my research has been supported through R01 funding from the National Institutes of Health as well as through University-sponsored research projects. I am currently conducting an NICHD funded multi-method, six-year longitudinal study on the relative role of multiple mediators (e.g., psychological, physiological, cognitive) underlying spillover between interparental difficulties and perturbations in parenting in both mothers and fathers of young children. In addition, this project will detail the impact of COVID-19 on family processes.