Lynn Fainsilber Katz

Research

My primary research interests are in examining familial factors related to risk and resilience in children's socioemotional development. I am particularly interested in children's ability to regulate emotion in face of adverse environments and life events, and how parenting buffers children from negative developmental outcomes. I see the family as an important source of influence shaping children's ability to regulate their emotions and teaching them how to develop successful, healthy relationships with others, including peers. Consistent with a developmental psychopathology approach, the studies I have conducted have included children who are functioning normally as well as those who exhibit behavior disorders. My current research is focused in two areas: (1) development of a combined emotion coaching and parent management training parenting intervention for families of children with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and low prosocial emotions; and (2) understanding child and family adjustment in families with a young child who has been newly diagnosed with cancer. In many of my studies, we collect observational, self-report and psychophysiological data from children while they interact with family members. Our studies of child with cancer will help us understand how children and families react to the stress of having a child with cancer, and whether positive parenting processes can reduce this risk. The new parenting intervention we have developed for children with ODD and low prosocial emotions targets development of empathy and prosocial responding, which we expect will function to reduce children's noncompliance and promote positive social relationships.