Clinical Psychology

R. Rogers Kobak

		Associate Professor Ph.D., University of Virginia, 1985 Research Interests Recent Publications Representative Publications Vita -MS Word file Website rkobak@udel.edu Office: 219 Wolf Hall (302) 831-6431 (302) 831-3645 -fax Lab: (302) 831-1692 Preferred contact method - email

Research Interests

Attachment related trauma,Stress regulation, developmental psychopathology

Research Summary:

During the past decade, my research has focused on family and school factors that increase risk for anti-social and mood disorders among low-income adolescents. Using longitudinal data from our NIMH funded longitudinal study of over 200 families, we are mapping children’s trajectories of academic achievement, externalizing and internalizing symptoms from ages 8 to age 17 and examining how family risk and school engagement moderate these trajectories.   Our family model focuses on how the caregiver-child attachment bond may enhance or diminish the child’s capacity to cope with interpersonal stressors.  Our school model focuses on interpersonal factors that promote school engagement and achievement growth.

We use several methods for assessing children’s exposure and ability to manage interpersonal stressors. Diary methods make it possible to assess the degree to which children’s mood and self-esteem fluctuate in response to negative interpersonal events.  Laboratory studies using repeated measures of cortisol and blood pressure allow us to examine adolescents’ physiological reactivity to interpersonal challenges. While some reaction to challenge is typical, we are testing the hypothesis that children who show excessive or attenuated stress responses will be at increased risk for psychopathology.

Our efforts to understand children’s capacities to manage interpersonal stressors point to new ways of thinking about family and school based interventions. The findings have the potential to inform school policies and contribute to classroom management strategies that promote better peer and teacher-student relationships. Our approach to family interventions begins with an understanding of the caregiver’s difficulties in managing stress. In particular, caregivers with unresolved loss or problems with supporting their children’s autonomy need interventions that target these difficulties. As a result, we prioritize goals for helping the caregiver manage enduring sources of stress and increasing the caregiver’s availability to the child.

Recent Publications

Zajac, K. & Kobak (in press) Caregivers’ States of Mind and Child Behavior Problems: Intergenerational effects during childhood and early adolescence. Development and Psychopathology.

Kobak, R., Rosenthal, N., Zajac, K. & Madsen, S. (2007). Adolescent Attachment Hierarchies and the Search for an Adult Pair Bond. New Directions in Child Development: Adolescent Attachment, 2007, 57-72.

Ackerman, B. P., Izard, C. E., Kobak, R., Brown, E. D., & Smith, C. (2007).  The longitudinal relation between reading problems and internalizing behavior in school for preadolescent children from economically disadvantaged children.  Child Development, 78,

Kobak R., Cassidy, J, Lyons-Ruth, K. & Zir, Y. (2006).  Attachment, stress and psychopathology: A developmental pathways model. Handbook of Developmental Psychopathology, D. Cicchetti, and Cohen, (Eds.) Cambridge, University Press (pp. 333-369).

Esposito, A., Kobak, R., & Little, M. (2005). Aggression and Self-Esteem Reactivity: A   Diary Study of Children’s Reactivity to Negative Events. Journal of Personality,          73: 887-906.

Representative Publications

Little, M., & Kobak, R. (2003). Emotional security with teachers and children’s stress reactivity: A comparison of special education and regular classrooms.  Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 32: 127-138.

Kobak, R., Little, M., Race, E., & Acosta, M. (2001).  Attachment disruptions in seriously emotionally disturbed children: Implications for treatment.  Attachmentand Human Development, 3, 243-258.

Cole, H. & Kobak, R.  (1996).  Attachment processes in eating disorder and depression.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology64: 282-290.

Kobak, R., Cole, H., Fleming, W., Ferenz-Gillies, R. & Gamble, W.  (1993).           Attachment and emotion regulation during mother-teen problem-solving: A control theory analysis.  Child Development, 64, 231-245.

Kobak, R., Sudler, N. & Gamble, W. (1991).  Attachment and depressive symptoms during adolescence: A developmental pathways analysis.  Development and Psychopathology, 3, 461-474.

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