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Kathryn L. Humphreys - Vanderbilt University. Nashville, TN, US

Kathryn L. Humphreys

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Human Development | Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN, UNITED STATES

A clinical psychologist with expertise in infant mental health.

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Parent depression linked to reduced empathy, putting kids at risk for adverse outcomes Stress and trauma in early childhood linked to reduced hippocampal volume in adolescence Domestic abuse expected to rise during COVID-19 outbreak

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Biography

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.

Areas of Expertise (11)

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

Accomplishments (5)

Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellow (professional)

2017

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

2014

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

2017

National Psychologist Trainee Register Credentialing Scholarship (professional)

2013

Children and Adults with ADHD (CHADD) Young Scientist Award (professional)

2013

Education (4)

University of California: Ph.D., Clinical Psychology 2014

University of California: M.A., Psychology 2009

Harvard Graduate School of Education: Ed.M., Risk and Prevention 2006

Vanderbilt University: B.S., Child Development and Cognitive Studies 2005

Affiliations (3)

  • Provost search committee member, Stanford University
  • Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12 of the APA)
  • Psychology in Action

Selected Media Appearances (7)

Mom Guilt is Real—And Here are 13 Ways to Overcome It in Any Situation

Parade  online

2022-03-03

Parent guilt happens when you don’t meet those goals or standards that you’ve built up in your mind, even if you know on some level that they’re not attainable. “When parents feel that they are falling short of their expectations or goals, guilt is a normal emotional response,” says Kathryn Humphreys, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of Education and Human Development.

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Human-rights groups are urging the Biden administration to get children out of the makeshift Border Patrol facilities

Insider  online

2021-03-23

"Even short stays in detention centers have the potential to be traumatic experiences," said Kathryn Humphreys, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt University.

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Quarantine Diaries: How I Stopped Feeling Guilty About ‘Me Time’ During the Pandemic

Parade  online

2020-09-16

arent guilt happens when you don’t meet those goals or standards that you’ve built up in your mind, even if you know on some level that they’re not attainable. “When parents feel that they are falling short of their expectations or goals, guilt is a normal emotional response,” says KathrynHumphreys, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of Education and Human Development.

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What happened to American childhood?

The Atlantic  online

2020-04-17

When I spoke with Kathryn L. Humphreys, a psychology professor at Vanderbilt University who specializes in the effects of caregiving in early life, she observed a widespread hesitancy to talk about depressing concepts with kids. Parents seem to feel that doing so is “developmentally inappropriate,” she mused, though this strikes her as exactly backwards given what we know about the benefits of graduated exposure to things that frighten us. Humphreys listens to the news after work, and her 4-year-old daughter will often ask tough questions. She told me she understands why people are concerned about having difficult conversations with kids, and yet, she asked, “At what age is it that you think kids are capable of that?” Scary things are happening all the time, and avoiding them—“We’re just gonna turn off the news!” as she put it—won’t change that. “Sometimes it’s the avoidance that makes it harder for kids who are anxious,” she added.

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A 4-month-old baby was separated from his parents at the border last year and still can't walk or speak. Experts say he could grow up with trauma he has no memory of experiencing.

Insider  online

2019-07-12

Kathryn L. Humphreys, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University who studies psychology and early childhood development, said the bulk of Constantin's trauma would likely have been experienced not when he was separated from his birth parents, but when he was reunited with them.

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What a typical day is like for a child in government custody at a Texas Border Patrol station

Insider  online

2019-07-01

Kathryn L. Humphreys, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University who studies psychology and early childhood development, said those reactions are unsurprising. Typically, institutionalized children who lack a parent or close caregiver often already suffer negative health outcomes. But to couple the lack of adults with an additional lack of basic needs such as toothbrushes, soap, and diapers was "horrific," she said.

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The children who have been detained in appalling conditions at the border could bear scars from the experience for life, experts say

Insider  online

2019-07-11

Kathryn L. Humphreys, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University who studies psychology and early childhood development, told INSIDER that many people wrongly think children can survive and thrive if only their basic needs like food, shelter, sanitation, and medical care are met.

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Selected Articles (3)

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

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

Emily L Dennis, Kathryn L Humphreys, Lucy S King, Paul M Thompson, Ian H Gotlib

2019 Irritability is garnering increasing attention in psychiatric research as a transdiagnostic marker of both internalizing and externalizing disorders. These disorders often emerge during adolescence, highlighting the need to examine changes in the brain and in psychological functioning during this developmental period.

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

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Katherine L Guyon-Harris, Kathryn L Humphreys, Devi Miron, Mary Margaret Gleason, Charles A Nelson, Nathan A Fox, Charles H Zeanah

2019 Psychosocial deprivation is associated with the development of socially aberrant behaviors, including signs of disinhibited social engagement disorder (DSED). In longitudinal studies, signs of DSED have been shown to decrease over time, especially as children are removed from conditions of deprivation.

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

Development and Psychopathology

Katharina Kircanski, Lucinda M Sisk, Tiffany C Ho, Kathryn L Humphreys, Lucy S King, Natalie L Colich, Sarah J Ordaz, Ian H Gotlib

2019 Early life stress (ELS) is a risk factor for the development of depression in adolescence; the mediating neurobiological mechanisms, however, are unknown. In this study, we examined in early pubertal youth the associations among ELS, cortisol stress responsivity, and white matter microstructure of the uncinate fasciculus and the fornix, two key frontolimbic tracts; we also tested whether and how these variables predicted depressive symptoms in later puberty.

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