Clinical Psychology

Kristyn Zajac

		Graduate Student  -  Primary Advisor: R. Rogers Kobak Research Interests Recent Publications   zajac@psych.udel.edu Office: ON INTERNSHIP Preferred contact method - email

Research Interests

Attachment and trauma

Research Summary:

I am a fifth-year clinical student working with Dr. Roger Kobak. Over the course of graduate school, I have worked on the Parent-Teen Project, a NIMH-funded study designed to examine the development of psychopathology among parents and adolescent children of low-income families.

Within this project, my interests focus on caregiver’s experiences of trauma and how this impacts both their parenting and their children’s development. I have approached this topic in several ways.

First, as part of our longitudinal project, we have administered the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) to the caregivers in our study. The AAI is a semi-structured interview about early childhood experiences, which taps into one’s state of mind about attachment relationships. It also provides the opportunity to observe lapses in meta-cognitive monitoring during discussions of loss and childhood abuse, also known as Unresolved loss and abuse. My Master’s Thesis examined behavior problems among children of Unresolved caregivers and the protective value of a caregiver’s secure state of mind. Second, I have designed a comprehensive assessment of lifetime trauma history and trauma-related symptoms that caregivers completed during the age 15 assessment. For my dissertation, I will examine the moderating effects of contextual risk (poverty and its co-factors) on the relationship between caregiver’s histories of childhood sexual abuse and both their use of harsh parenting techniques and their children’s behavior problems at school. This study will utilize longitudinal data analytic techniques in order to study trajectories of children’s behavior problems from ages 6 to 15.

In terms of clinical training, I am currently completing my second year as a practicum student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA). At the CTSA, I am receiving training in treatments for a range of disorders including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Trichotillomania, Social Phobia, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Additionally, I conduct weekly intake assessments using the MINI and various disorder-specific interviews. Currently, I am also participating in Dr. Adele Hayes’s Stress, Depression, and Wellness program, conducting both assessments and treatment for depression.

Recent Publications

Zajac, K., & Kobak, R. (in press). Caregiver Unresolved loss and abuse and child behavior problems: Intergenerational effects in a high-risk sample. Development and Psychopathology.

Kobak, R., Zajac, K., & Levine, S. (in press). Cortisol activity and externalizing behaviors in early adolescence: Moderating effects of gender and symptom severity. 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 for Child and Adolescent Development, 2007, 57 – 72.

Zajac, K., & Kobak, R. (2006). Attachment. In G. Bear & K. Minke (Eds.), Children’s Needs III: Understanding and addressing the developmental needs of children. National Association of School Psychologists.

Presentations

Zajac, K., & Kobak, R. (2007). Adolescent attachment organization and self-esteem reactivity to daily events. Poster to be presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, Chicago, IL.

Zajac, K., & Kobak, R. (2007, March). Discontinuities in the intergenerational transmission of caregiver-adolescent attachment strategies: The role of caregiver trauma. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA.

Zajac, K., Kobak, R., Rosenthal, N., & Esposito, A. (2006, March). Caregiver attachment classification, unresolved trauma, and adolescent psychopathology: A study of a high-risk sample. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.

Kobak, R., & Zajac, K. (2006, March). Attachment and psychopathology among economically disadvantaged teens: The contribution of interviews and teen-parent interactions. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.

Esposito, A. J., Kobak, R., Rosenthal, N. L., & Zajac, K. (2006, March). Adolescent responses to daily events: Self-esteem vs. mood reactivity and the moderating effect of internalizing symptoms. Poster presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.  

Rosenthal, N. L., Kobak, R., Zajac, K, & Esposito, A. J. (2006, March). Parenting discourse and adolescent psychopathology: The role of joint problem solving in a low-income sample. Poster presentation at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence, San Francisco, CA.

Zajac, K., Kobak, R., Rosenthal, N., & Esposito, A. (2005, April). Caregiver trauma and adolescent psychopathology: A study of a high-risk sample. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

Kobak, R. & Zajac, K. (2005, April). Sequelae of attachment in pre to late adolescence as reflected in close relationships and adjustment. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.

Esposito, A., & Zajac, K. (2004, May). The self-esteem reactivity of aggressive teens. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, Chicago, IL.

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