Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellow

Michael J. Goldstein Distinguished Dissertation Award in Clinical Psychology, UCLA

Association for Psychological Science (APS) “Rising Star” Award

National Psychologist Trainee Register Credentialing Scholarship

Children and Adults with ADHD (CHADD) Young Scientist Award

Provost search committee member, Stanford University

Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of the APA)

Psychology in Action

Irritability and Brain Volume in Adolescents: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Associations

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder in Early Childhood Predicts Reduced Competence in Early Adolescence

Early life stress, cortisol, frontolimbic connectivity, and depressive symptoms during puberty

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Dr. Kathryn Humphreys is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. She has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and expertise in infant and early childhood mental health and developmental neuroscience. Her research program includes both basic and applied work, and she has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on child development, adversity, and caregiving. Her work is funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health, and private foundations. Dr. Humphreys has received several early career awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, the NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (NIMH BRAINS) award, and the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science.

Tender Age Detainment Centers

Infants and Toddlers

Orphanages

Parent Child Separations

Migrant Youth

Trauma in Youth

Stress and Early Adversity

Clinical Psychology

Adoption

Childhood Adversity

Mental Health

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infant-seating-devices-may-reduce-language-exposure

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development

When a parent needs to cook dinner or take a shower, often they will place their baby in a bouncy seat, swing, exersaucer, or similar seating device intended to protect the baby and grant a degree of independence to both the parent and infant. For many parents, these devices represent a helpful extra set of hands; for babies, the freedom to safely explore their immediate surroundings. As useful as these devices are to both parents and infants, they may present trade-offs regarding their effect on infants’ exposure to adult language, which is critical for language development. That’s according to a new study by researchers at the Stress and Early Adversity Lab at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development.  Within infants’ natural environments and daily routines, the study explored interactions between their exposure to adult language and their placement in seating devices, which support posture and promote the infant’s ability to play with objects or observe their surroundings without direct support from a caregiver. The researchers found that infants were exposed to fewer words when spending time in seating devices compared to when spending time in other placements. They also found that infants who spent the most time in seating devices heard nearly 40 percent fewer daily words compared to infants who spent the least amount of time in seating devices. Infants with more, compared to less, seating device use also had less consistent exposure to adult language throughout the day.

Sixty mothers and their 4- to 6-month-old infants participated in this study. For three days, a Language Environment Analysis audio recording device (i.e. “talk pedometer”) captured language exposure. The mothers inserted the audio recorder into the pocket of a vest their babies wore. Automated software estimated from the recordings the total number of adult words spoken to or near the infant over the course of a day. To record real-time behaviors of infant placement, the mothers responded to 12 brief surveys per day about their infant’s current location and use of seating devices. Caregiver reports of their child’s placement in seating devices accounted for 10 percent of an infant’s daily exposure to adult words, which the researchers say is a striking finding due to the complex nature of language exposure and how many other factors may influence children’s exposure to speech (e.g. caregiver’s talkativeness, presence of other siblings).

Kathryn Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology and human development and expert in infant and early childhood mental health, is the senior author of the study. She notes that infant seating devices can provide a convenient way to keep infants safely contained while caregivers attend to other tasks. However, given the potential for frequent and prolonged use of these devices, she says that parents may want to be intentional about interactive opportunities while the infant explores their surroundings as well as consider wearing or otherwise carrying their infant on their body as much as possible to create more opportunities for engagement through speech.

“While we need more research to be certain that seating devices reduce the richness of infants’ language environments, these findings are influencing my own decisions about intentional placement with my 6-month-old." - Kathryn Humphreys  Kathryn Humphreys  She suggests that safe and convenient places are a boon for both infants and their caregivers, but that there is a risk for reduced levels of interactions when infants are stationary and not moving to where their caregivers are active.

  

Infant seating devices may reduce language exposure

childhood-psychology-expert-on-migrant-children-at-usmexico-border

Kathryn Humphreys, assistant professor, department of psychology and human development, is available for commentary on the influx of migrant children at the border and group-based housing for these children.

Kathryn received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology and has expertise in infant and early childhood mental health. Her research focuses on characterizing the early environment and examining links to later life outcomes. 

Some of her recent research finds that stressful or traumatic experiences occurring in a child’s earliest years—birth to age 5—have been linked to reduced hippocampal volume in adolescence, which is connected to learning, memory and mood.




Childhood psychology expert on migrant children at U.S.-Mexico border

Parents with greater depression symptoms report experiencing less empathy—even toward their own children, according to a new Vanderbilt report published in PLOS ONE. This phenomenon could lead to significant long-term negative impacts for these children, the researchers say.
 
“Feeling understood and accepted is important for everyone, but especially in the context of the parent–child relationship,” said senior author Kathryn L. Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. “Research studies find that when children don’t receive empathic responses from caregivers, they tend to have a wide variety of negative outcomes, including elevated physiological responses to stress, increased risk for psychiatric disorders, especially depression, and decreased empathy toward others.” 
 
The findings may be particularly pertinent during the current COVID-19 outbreak, a time when depression and anxiety are on the rise as parents struggle to balance health and financial concerns with isolation, working from home and caring for (and educating) their young children. 
 
“Our findings may help to explain why parents with depression are more likely to engage in negative parenting behaviors, such as withdrawal or hostility, and reduced positive parenting behaviors, like sensitivity, engagement and warmth,” said lead author Virginia Salo, a postdoctoral fellow at Vanderbilt. “Depression doesn’t just affect the person who is experiencing it.”
 
Humphreys says that parents experiencing depression are more likely to struggle with fatigue and irritability, making even routine family-centric activities like reading together, preparing meals and playing games, more difficult. These activities are important because they can build emotional connection, boost learning and enhance language skills.  
 
“A parent’s difficulty identifying and connecting with a child’s emotions is particularly concerning during these turbulent times when children’s worlds are being disrupted and parents are the primary source for providing a sense of safety,” Humphreys said. 
 
Across the world population, more than 300 million people are estimated to experience a major depressive episode in their lifetime. Among adults in the United States alone the lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorder is approximately 21 percent.
 
READ THE ARTICLE
“Depressive symptoms in parents are associated with reduced empathy toward their young children.”
 
FUNDING
Funding was provided by the Jacobs Foundation via an Early Career Research Fellowship to Kathryn L. Humphreys.
 
ADDITIONAL AUTHORS
Vanderbilt University Child Studies Master’s Program Student Sara J. Schunck


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Parent depression linked to reduced empathy, putting kids at risk for adverse outcomes

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Stressful or traumatic experiences occurring in a child’s earliest years—birth to age 5—have been linked to reduced hippocampal volume in adolescence, according to a new Vanderbilt University report published in Developmental Science. 

“These findings tell us that there may be a ‘sensitive period’ in which stress is more likely to affect the development of the hippocampus, which is connected to learning, memory and mood,” said lead author Kathryn L. Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt. “Given that the hippocampus undergoes rapid changes in the first years of life, the effects of stressful experiences during this period, even those the child doesn’t remember, may be particularly important in understanding the development of this region of the brain.”

In the study, 178 early adolescents underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. They were interviewed using a modified version of the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory for Children. More than 30 different stressors were examined, including parental divorce, moving to a new community, separation from a loved one, illness or death of a close friend or family member, witnessing violence and experiencing abuse.

“This work underscores the plasticity and vulnerability of the brain in early life,” Humphreys said. “Our findings have important clinical implications given that smaller hippocampal volume has been prospectively linked to a number of outcomes, including vulnerability to psychopathology following trauma, poorer antidepressant treatment response and memory deficits.”

• Read “Evidence for a Sensitive Period in the Effects of Early Life Stress on Hippocampal Volume” in Developmental Science.

• Read Humphreys’ invited paper, “Future Directions in the Study and Treatment of Parent-Child Separation” in this month’s issue of Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

• Watch a video of Humphreys discussing her research.

More about Dr. Humphreys
Kathryn L. Humphreys is an assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of education and human development. She is the director of the Stress and Early Adversity (SEA) Lab and a member of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. She is trained as a clinical psychologist and has expertise in infant mental health. She was named an APS Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science in 2018. 

Humphreys’ work centers on identifying pathways to the development of psychopathology. She focuses on caregiving experiences in early life, with a particular interest in identifying targets for prevention and intervention. Her research includes tools from neuroscience, including magnetic resonance imaging as well as biological markers of aging and health.

Humphreys’ research is supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the National Science Foundation, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation, Jacobs Foundation and the Stanford Precision Health and Integrated Diagnostics Center. 

–VU–


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Stress and trauma in early childhood linked to reduced hippocampal volume in adolescence

Clinicians should be vigilant in supporting families most at risk


The stresses placed on families combined with the closure of classrooms and childcare during the COVID-19 outbreak heightens the risks of domestic abuse and neglect, according to a new Vanderbilt University report published online in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.


The perspective article, “Increased Risk for Family Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” is written by lead author Kathryn L. Humphreys, assistant professor in the of psychology at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development. Co-authors are Tulane University Medical Center’s Myo Thwin Myint and Charles H. Zeanah.


The authors highlight the reports of increased domestic violence following quarantine orders in China, which have provided insight into the interpersonal violence risks of isolation due to the pandemic. Additionally, they say, research has shown evidence of anger, confusion and posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as evidence of increases in substance use during periods of isolation.


 Many families are under financial pressures and need to continue to work full time during these periods. Children are likely to be more challenging and oppositional due to significant changes in routines. The authors recommend that pediatricians and other health care professionals maintain continuity of their practices, interacting with familiesthrough telehealth, and when possible contacting the families of patients at higher risk during this time.


 
They also suggest clinicians should provide recommendations for parents on managing family stress, structuring daily routines, using a “tag-teaming” approach for child care, and developing a plan to avoid family violence.


Read “Increased Risk for Family Violence During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”To interview Kathryn L. Humphreys, contact media@vanderbilt.edu.





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Domestic abuse expected to rise during COVID-19 outbreak

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