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 psychological well-being.

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

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 at both individual and systemic levels.

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, implementation and evaluation.

Principal Investigator

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

Doctoral Students

• Dara Winley, MFT
• Elizabeth Okunrounmu, MFT
• Brianna Bilkins, MFT
• Katherine Dilks, LMFT
• Forogh Rahim, MFT

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.

Building Healthy Kids and Families

We are preparing to launch new data collection aimed at exploring 1) enhancing attachment bonds and 2) building understanding of emotions in parents and their pre-school aged children. We will be collecting data to examine both basic research and intervention research questions. Data collection will take place in community-based pre-schools that have partnered with the ACE Lab.

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., Levy, S.A., Scott, S.A., Diamond, G.S. (in press). 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.

Krauthamer Ewing, E.S., Izard, C.E., Hyde, C., Wilkins, A., Finlon, K.J., Woodburn, E.M., Grossman, S.R., Seidenfeld, A., Herres, J. (Early Childhood Development Quarterly, Under Review).  Parental Emotional Intelligence and Empathy Predict Observed Parenting Sensitivity and Responsiveness in a low-income African American Sample.

Marshall, C., Winley, D.,Krauthamer-Ewing, E.S., Jones, J. (Under review) The role of TRIOS, an African-derived worldview, in mother-child interactions in a sample of African American families enrolled in Head Start.

Diamond, G., Herres, J, Krauthamer Ewing, E.S.,Atte, T., Scott, S., Wintersteen, M., Gallop, R. (Pediatric Psychology under review for revise and resubmit) Risk factors associated with suicide ideation and attempts in primary care: A latent class analysis.

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.

Contact the ACE lab

Stephanie Krauthamer Ewing

Three Parkway Building
7th FloorRoom 716
Philadelphia, PA, 19103
267.359.5584
sewing@drexel.edu