ATTACHMENT, CAREGIVING AND EMOTIONS LAB (ACE LAB)

In the ACE Lab, we study healthy emotional development in childhood and adolescence and the impact of caregiving and attachment relationships on emotional development and well-being.

Many of our research projects explore parenting approaches and the various influences on parenting. We have a particular interest in studying these relationships within racial and ethnic minority families and families coping with poverty and marginalization.

The ACE lab also has a significant clinical focus. We are committed to translating knowledge from basic scientific research into effective clinical intervention and prevention programs that can promote positive change.

Graduate students working in the lab may choose to participate in:

1. Basic research that strengthens the scientific understanding of emotional development in children and emotional processes in families, including associated psychobiological and neurological processes.
2. Translational research focused on program development, evaluation and implementation.

Principal Investigator

E. Stephanie Krauthamer Ewing, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor - Counseling and Family Therapy
View Faculty Profile

Research Assistants

• Erika Feeney, MS

Doctoral Students

• Katherine Dilks, LMFT
• Dara Herbert, LMFT

IMPROVEMENTS IN MENTALIZING AS A MECHANISM OF CHANGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY FOR DEPRESSED AND SUICIDAL ADOLESCENTS

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens in the United States. The objective of this NIMH funded study is to determine whether improvements in adolescent mentalizing (the ability to make generally accurate inferences about the thoughts, emotions, behaviors and intentions of others), over the course of 16 weeks of psychotherapy, predict adolescent suicide risk symptom reduction. If we can identify improvements in mentalizing as a predictor of suicide risk symptom reduction, we will have valuable new information to: 1) help create more effective risk screening tools; 2) better assess treatment progress; and 3) design more effective and targeted intervention and prevention programs.

PRESCHOOL FAMILY DEVELOPMENT STUDY

The primary aim of this study is to explore the relationships between various contextual stressors, parent-child relationship quality and children’s emotional development in a sample of families with pre-school aged children in Philadelphia, PA. In particular, the study will examine income-to-needs ratio, experiences of racism-related stress and trauma and other stressors and their relationship to parental stress, parent-child relationship quality and children’s outcomes. The study will also examine potential protective factors within these families.

Family Safety Net 2 (FSN2)

FSN2 is a NIMH-funded R01 randomized controlled clinical trial comparing Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) to individual supportive therapy for treating depressed and suicidal adolescents. Many of the families in the sample for this study come from low-income backgrounds, and over 40% of the participants in the sample identified as members of racial or ethnic minority groups. Research aimed to pinpoint specific mechanisms in both adolescents and their caregivers that promote healthy parent-teen relationship growth during treatment with ABFT. Ongoing studies are using developmental research methodology (observational coding, family interaction tasks) to attempt to measure treatment related changes in caregivers over the course of therapy (e.g. parent’s emotion coaching skills, parent’s emotional intelligence and perspective taking abilities with their adolescents) and whether and how treatment impacts positive parenting processes (e.g. parental warmth, sensitivity, responsiveness).

Empathy and Responsiveness Study (EARS)

This study is a longitudinal developmental study examining the relationship between maternal facilitative emotional intelligence, observed sensitive and responsive parenting and children’s adaptive behavior and developmental outcomes in a sample of mothers and pre-school aged children enrolled in Head Start. All families met income and poverty threshold requirements for participation in Head Start. Data collection for this study is complete. Analyses and write-up are ongoing. Results thus far have provided support for parental knowledge about emotions as a potential important influence on parents' tendency to respond sensitively and positively to young children. Furthermore results support past findings on the role of positive parenting in young children’s healthy development and suggest that parents’ understanding of emotions (measured as emotional intelligence) may be another important contributor to children’s growth and adaptive outcomes.

*Chou, J., Lynch, L., Brooks, S., Krauthamer-Ewing, E.S., Jordal, C., Herbert, D., Voulda, J. (2022). Couple/Marriage and Family Therapist Extent of Training for Working with Families Impacted by Substance Use. Family Relations.

Herres, J., James, K., Bounoua, N., Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., Kobak, R., & Diamond, G. S. (2021). Anxiety-related difficulties in goal-directed behavior predict worse treatment outcome among adolescents treated for suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms. Psychotherapy.

*Hunt, Q. A., Krauthamer Ewing, E. S., Weiler, L. M., Ogbaselase, F. A., Mendenhall, T., McGuire, J. K., ... & Diamond, G. S. (2021). Family relationships and the interpersonal theory of suicide in a clinically suicidal sample of adolescents. Journal of marital and family therapy.

Abbott, C.H., Zisk, A., Herres, J., Diamond, G.S., Krauthamer Ewing E.S., Kobak, R.R. (2021). Exploring the Relations Between Interpersonal Risk and Adolescent Suicidality During Treatment. Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

*Ibrahim, M., Levy, S.A., Gallop, R., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Hogue, A., Chou, J.L, Diamond, G.S. (2021). Therapist Adherence to Two Treatments for Adolescent Suicide Risk: Association to Outcomes and Role of Therapeutic Alliance. Family Process.

Diamond, G., Kodish, T., Krauthamer Ewing, E. S., Hunt, Q. A., & Russon, J. M. (2021). Family processes: Risk, protective and treatment factors for youth at risk for suicide. Aggression and Violent Behavior.

*Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Hunt,Q., Singer, J.S., Diamond, G.S., Winley, D.M (2020). Youth Suicide Risk. In Wampler, K.S. (Ed.) Handbook of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy. New York: Guilford Press.

Holtrop, K., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Topham, G. (2020). Prevention of Parent-Child Relational Problems: The Role of Parenting Interventions. In Wampler, K.S. (Ed.) Handbook of Couple, Marital, and Family Therapy. New York: Guilford Press.

Chang, C. J., Ohannessian, C. M., Krauthamer Ewing, E. S., Kobak, R., Diamond, G. S., & Herres, J. (2020). Attachment and Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies in Reports of Family Functioning among Suicidal Adolescents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 1-10.

*Morgis, B. L., Krauthamer Ewing, E. S., Liu, T., Slaughter-Acey, J., Fisher, K., & Jampol, R. (2019). A Hold Me Tight Workshop for Couple Attachment and Sexual Intimacy. Contemporary Family Therapy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-019-09504-x

*Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Herres, J., Dilks, K., Rahim, F., Trentacosta, C. (2019). Understanding of Emotions and Empathy: Predictors of Positive Parenting with Preschoolers in Economically Stressed Families. Journal of Child and Family Studies. doi: 10.1007/s10826-018-01303-6.

Diamond, G. S., Kobak, R. R., Krauthamer Ewing, E. S., Levy, S. A., Herres, J. L., Russon, J. M., & Gallop, R. J. (2018). A Randomized-Controlled Trial: Attachment-Based Family and Nondirective Supportive Treatments for Suicidal Youth. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Sheller, S. L., Hudson, K. M., Bloch, J. R., Biddle, B., Krauthamer Ewing, E. S., & Slaughter-Acey, J.C. (2018). Family Care Curriculum: A Parenting Support Program for Families Experiencing Homelessness. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 22(9), 1247-1254.

Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Levy, S.A., Scott, S.A., Diamond, G.S. (2017). Attachment Based Family Therapy for adolescents with depression and suicidal ideation. In H. Steele & M. Steele (Eds.), Handbook of Attachment-Based Interventions. New York: Guilford Press.

Diamond, G., Herres, J, Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Atte, T., Scott, S., Wintersteen, M., Gallop, R. Comprehensive Screening for Suicide Risk in Primary Care (2017). American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 53(1): 48-54. doi: 10.1016/j.amepre.2017.02.020.

Zisk, A., Abbott, C. H., Krauthamer Ewing, E S., Diamond, G. S., & Kobak, R. (2017). The Suicide Narrative Interview: adolescents’ attachment expectancies and symptom severity in a clinical sample. Attachment & human development, 19(5), 447-462.

Winley, D. M., Ogbaselase, F., Kodish, T., Okunrounmu, E., & Ewing, E. S. K. (2016) Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Teen Suicidality Complicated by a History of Sexual Trauma. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 37, 177-189. doi: 10.1002/anzf.1150

Herres, J., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., & Kobak, R. (2016) Emotional reactivity to daily interpersonal events as a mechanism that maintains adolescent depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44(3): 471-481.

Finlon, K.J., Izard C.E., Seidenfeld, A., Johnson S.R., Cavadel E.W., Krauthamer Ewing E. S., Morgan J.K.(November 2015). Emotion-based preventive intervention: Effectively promoting emotion knowledge and adaptive behavior among at-risk preschoolers. Development and Psychopathology, 27, 1353-1365.

Krauthamer Ewing, E.S, Diamond, G.S, Levy, S. (2015). Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Depressed and Suicidal Adolescents: Theory, Clinical Model, and Empirical Support. Attachment and Human Development, 17, 136-156.

Kobak, R., Zajac, K., Herres, J., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S. (2015). Attachment based treatments for adolescents: The secure cycle as a framework for assessment, treatment and evaluation.. Attachment and Human Development, 17, 220-239.

Krauthamer-Ewing, E.S., Levy S., Boamah-Wiafe, L., Kobak, R., Diamond, G.S. (2014). Attachment-Based Family Therapy with a 13-Year-Old Girl Presenting with High Risk for Suicide. Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Bosmans, G., Vandevivere, E., & Krauthamer Ewing, E.S. (2013). Attachment based family therapy: Een evidence based systeemtherapeutisch behandelprogramma voor depressieve adolescenten [Attachment based family therapy: An evidence based system therapeutic treatment program for depressed adolescents]. In C. Braet & S. Bogels (Red.) Protocollaire behandeling voor kinderen met psychische klachten, Volume 2. Amersfoort: Boom.

Izard, C. E., Woodburn, E. M., Finlon, K. J., Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., Grossman, S.R., & Seidenfeld, A. (2011). Emotion Knowledge, Emotion Utilization, and Emotion Regulation. Emotion Review, 3, 44-52.

Izard, C. E., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Woodburn, E. M., Finlon, K. J., & Rosen, J. B. (2009). Emotion-cognition interplay in motivating and guiding plans and actions: Commentary on McClure-Tone's socio-emotional functioning in Bipolar Disorder. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice,16, 114-120.

Izard, C. E., King, K. A., Trentacosta, C. J., Morgan, J. K., Laurenceau, J., Krauthamer-Ewing, E. S., & Finlon, K. (2008). Accelerating the development of emotion competence in Head Start children: Effects on adaptive and maladaptive behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 369-397.

Wadden, T.A., Byrne, K., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S (2005). Obesity: Management. In: M.E. Shils et al (Eds.), Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 10th Edition, (pp. 1029-1042). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Womble, L.G., Wadden, T.A., McGuckin, B.G., Sargent, S.L., Rothman, R,A., Krauthamer Ewing, E.S. (2004). A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Commercial Internet Weight Loss Program. Obesity Research, 12, l011-1018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/oby.2004.124

Contact the ACE lab

Stephanie Krauthamer Ewing

Health Sciences Building
60 N. 36th Street
11th Floor - Office 11W21
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
215.776.1023
sewing@drexel.edu