Laura V. Scaramella, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
(University of Arizona)
Graduate Coordinator
Click here for Dr. Scaramella's lab and clinic info
Research Interests
Dr. Scaramella's research examines how children's temperamental characteristics and parents' childrearing style interact during early childhood to affect children's risk for developing problem behavior during childhood and adolescence.
The Mothers and Preschoolers Study (MAPS) is a federally funded study that involves 180 mothers, their Head Start enrolled child, and a two-year-old target child. Families are interviewed annually at or around target children’s 2nd, 3rd, and 4th birthdays. Families complete a number of activities which are videotaped and later coded by trained coders. The goal of this study is to consider how the quality of target children’s relationships with their mothers and siblings influences their transition into Head Start. The study began in earnest in 2006 and will be completed in 2011. http://psyc.uno.edu/mapsproject/
The Family Transitions Project is a longitudinal sample of 550 families that have been followed annually for close to 20 years. As an investigator on this study, Dr. Scaramella studies the influence of parenting experiences during adolescence (family of origin) and age of becoming a parent on the intergenerational transmission of parenting and child problem behaviors. That is, this work examines conditions under which intergenerational parenting continuities emerge as well as how experiences within the family of origin influences the next generation of children’s risk for developing problem behaviors. http://tran.isbr.iastate.edu/
The Early Growth and Development Study involves a sample of over 500 adoptive parents, adopted children, and birth parents recruited within 3 months of the adopted child’s birth. This study considers the additive and interactive influences of environmental factors (adoptive family) and genetic factors (birth parents) on child adjustment (adopted child). http://www.gwumc.edu/cfr/earlydevelopment/index.html
Selected Publications (click here for curriculum vita)
Leve, L. D., Neiderhiser, J. M., Scaramella, L. V., & Reiss, D. (in press). The Early Growth and Development Study: Using the Prospective Adoption Design to Examine Genotype –Environment Interplay. Acta Sinica.
Scaramella, L. V., Conger, R. D., & Neppl, T. K., & Ontai, L. L. (in press). Consequences of socioeconomic risk across three generations: Parenting behavior and child externalizing problems. Journal of Family Psychology.
Ge, X. J., Natsuaki, M. N., Martin, D., Leve, L., Neiderhiser, J., Shaw, D. S., Villareal, G., Scaramella, L. V., & Reiss, D. (2008). Bridging the divide: Openness in adoption and post-adoption psychosocial adjustment. Journal of Family Psychology, 22, 529-540.
Scaramella, L. V., Sohr-Preston, S. L., Callahan, K. L., & Mirabile, S. P. (2008). A test of the Family Stress Model on toddler-aged children’s adjustment among Hurricane Katrina impacted and non-impacted low income families. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 37, 530-541.
Scaramella, L. V., Sohr-Preston, S. L., Robison, S. D., Mirabile, S. P., & Callahan, K. L. (2008). Parenting and children’s distress reactivity during toddlerhood: An examination of the direction of effects. Social Development, 17, 578-595.
Leve, L. D., Neiderhiser, J. M., Ge, X., Scaramella, L. V., Conger, R. D., Reid, J. B., Shaw, D. S., & Reiss, D. (2007). The early growth and development study: A prospective adoption design. Twin research and human genetics, 10, 84-95.
Sohr-Preston, S. L. & Scaramella, L. V. (2006). Implications of the timing of maternal depressive symptoms for early cognitive and language development. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 9, 65-83.
Scaramella, L.V. & Leve, L. D. (2004). Clarifying parent-child reciprocities during early childhood: The early childhood coercion model. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 7, 89-107.
Conger, R. D., Neppl, T., Kim, K. J., & Scaramella, L. V. (2003). Angry and aggressive behavior across three generations: A prospective, longitudinal study of parents and children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 143-160.
Scaramella, L. V. & Conger, R. D. (2003). Intergenerational continuity of hostile parenting and its consequences: The moderating influence of children’s negative emotional reactivity. Social Development, 12, 420-439.
Scaramella, L. V., Conger, R. D., Spoth, R., & Simons, R. L. (2002). Evaluating a social contextual model of delinquency: A cross-study replication. Child Development, 73, 175-195.
Scaramella, L. V., Conger, R. D., & Simons, R. L. (1999). Parental protective influences and gender-specific increases in adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 9, 111-141.
Scaramella, L. V., Conger, R. D., Simons, R. L., & Whitbeck, L. B. (1998). Predicting risk for pregnancy by late adolescence: A social contextual perspective. Developmental Psychology, 34, 1233-1245.
Revised 08/7/09