Jessica Borelli
Associate Professor of Psychological Science | UC Irvine
Irvine, CA, UNITED STATES
Jessie Borelli's research focuses on the links between close relationships and mental health
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Biography
Jessie Borelli is an Associate Professor of Psychological Science at University of California, Irvine. She is a clinical psychologist specializing the field of developmental psychopathology; her research focuses on the links...
Areas of Expertise (7)
Attachment
Parenting
Developmental
Mental Health
Health
Clinical
Parent-Child Relationships
Education (2)
Yale University: PhD, Clinical Psychology
UC Berkeley: BA
Links (6)
Media Appearances (6)
Savor The Good Stuff & Rewire Your Brain For Connection With This Journaling Approach
MindBodyGreen online
2025-04-27
"[In parenting], there's a really important part about empathy, which is that it has to stay focused on your child. One really big mistake that parents can make—and it's easy for this to happen—it can become about you quite quickly," says Relational savoring helps parents recognize the difference between their mental state and their child's, ultimately allowing them to better respond to their child. … Dr. Jessica Borelli, professor of psychological science at the University of California, Irvine.
This Simple Therapy Technique Can Strengthen All Your Relationships
Oprah Daily online
2025-04-07
Jessica Borelli, professor of psychological science, coined the term "relational savoring," and says it's a tool to help people savor their relationships. “I’ve been trying to study this idea that relationships can be a source of healing, and that we can harness the strength in relationships to bring about positive change in people’s lives,” says Borelli.
How the science of savoring can help you nurture your relationships
NPR online
2025-03-10
Think of a time when someone did something really nice for you, or you did something really nice for them. Just bringing up that memory probably makes you feel good — about that person, the nice thing that happened and maybe about some other stuff too. Jessica Borelli, a professor of psychological science at University of California, Irvine, has developed a technique that focuses on these kinds of memories to help people feel more secure in their relationships.
Your Love Life on Ozempic
Wired online
2025-02-12
The reality is, sex drive and sexual interactions are complicated, says Jessica Borelli, a clinical psychologist at UC Irvine, who focuses on the links between close relationships, emotions, health, and development. They are in part determined by arousal, which has a physiological component, but also by relationship dynamics and psychological factors, she says. And of course, physical comfort during sex plays a role.
Eight Tips For Talking With Your Kids About Death
Greater Good Magazine online
2025-01-29
Jessica Borelli, UC Irvine professor of psychological science and Kaitlin Lord, UC Irvine graduate student of psychological science write, “Although no parent wishes for their child to have to endure a loss, helping a child through this type of life event creates an opportunity for meaningful conversations about some of the most important things in life - relationships, values cherished by the family, and showing up for people during times of need. Infusing these conversations into everyday life helps to make the topic of death more comfortable for both children and adults.”
Doing Dry January? 9 tips to get you across the finish line
LAist online
2025-01-01
We asked an expert — Jessica Borelli, a professor at UCI and the associate director of clinical training in the department of Psychological Science — for advice on how to head into Dry January and finish strong. Here are some of her tips: To begin with, she suggests thinking about Dry January as a practice, much like a yoga and exercise practice. You only get better at it the more you practice it, right?
Research Grants (1)
A Comprehensive Parent-Child Prevention Program for Youth Violence: The YEA/MADRES Program
Centers for Disease Control - National Center for Injury Prevention and Control $1,025,178
2017 - 2020 Principal Investigator: Nancy Guerra, Ph.D. Co-Principal Investigator: Jessica L. Borelli, Ph.D.
Articles (8)
I “get” you, babe: Reflective functioning in partners transitioning to parenthood
Journal of Social and Personal RelationshipsJessica L. Borelli, Arietta Slade, Corey Pettit, Dana Shai
2020 Reflective functioning (RF) is a construct that has gained tremendous traction in the developmental psychology literature, demonstrating robust associations with parent–child attachment and interactional quality. Although theorists argue that RF should have meaningful links with relationship quality across the life span, to date this construct has not been applied to the study of adult romantic partnerships.
Flattening the Mental Health Curve in the Time of COVID-19: A Call to Action for Clinical Psychological Science
PsyArXiv2020 COVID-19 presents humanity with its greatest social, economic, and medical challenges of the 21st century. Because COVID-19 has already begun to precipitate huge increases in mental health problems, we believe that clinical psychological science must play a leadership role in guiding a national response to this secondary crisis.
Reflective functioning and empathy among mothers of school-aged children: Charting the space between.
American Psychological AssociationBorelli, J. L., Stern, J. A., Marvin, M. J., Smiley, P. A., Pettit, C., & Samudio, M.
2020 Parental child-focused reflective functioning (RF)—understanding children’s behavior as a function of mental states—and parental empathy—understanding, resonating with, and feeling concern for children’s emotions—have each been linked to sensitive caregiving and children’s attachment security in separate studies, but they have been neither directly compared nor have researchers tested whether they interact in predicting child outcomes.
Interpersonal physiological regulation during couple support interactions: Examining the role of respiratory sinus arrhythmia and emotional support
Psychophysiology2019 In times of need, people seek comfort and support from close others. Support provision is an integral component of attachment relationships, one that is linked with physical and psychological well‐being. Successful support provision is believed to be grounded in transactions of sensitive, caring behavior between caregivers and support seekers and to serve a profound regulatory function.
Children's and Mothers' Cardiovascular Reactivity to a Standardized Laboratory Stressor: Unique Relations With Maternal Anxiety and Overcontrol
Emotion2018 Research documents bidirectional associations between parental overcontrol (OC) and children's anxiety; OC may place children at risk for anxiety and also may occur in response to children's requests for help. However, to date no studies have examined children's or parents' in-the-moment emotional responses to OC.
Gender Differences in Work-Family Guilt in Parents of Young Children
Sex Roles2017 The transition to parenthood is a watershed moment for most parents, introducing the possibility of intra-individual and interpersonal growth or decline. Given the increasing number of dual-earner couples in the United States, new parents’ attitudes towards employment (as well as the ways in which they balance employment and personal demands) may have an impact on their overall well-being.
Mothering From the Inside Out: Results of a Second Randomized Clinical Trial Testing a Mentalization-Based Intervention for Mothers in Addiction Treatment
Dev Psychopathol2017 Mothers with histories of alcohol and drug addiction have shown greater difficulty parenting young children than mothers with no history of substance misuse. This study was the second randomized clinical trial testing the efficacy of Mothering From the Inside Out (MIO), a 12-week mentalization-based individual therapy designed to address psychological deficits commonly associated with chronic substance use that also interfere with the capacity to parent young children.
Reflective Functioning, Physiological Reactivity, and Overcontrol in Mothers: Links With School-Aged Children's Reflective Functioning
Dev Psychol2017 Theorists argue that parental reflective functioning (PRF) is activated in response to emotions, potentially supporting parenting sensitivity even when arousal is high. That is, when parents become emotionally reactive when interacting with their children, those who can use PRF to understand their children's mental states should be able to parent sensitively, which, in turn, should promote children's ability to understand their own mental states.
