Martha E. Wadsworth
Assistant Professor, Clinical Child

My research interests fall into the broad categories of stress and coping, prevention, and developmental psychopathology. I currently pursue three inter-related lines of research. The first line of inquiry?a core component of my current research?focuses on developmental issues in coping with poverty-related stress. We have recently completed a longitudinal study of families coping with poverty-related stress in the Denver metro area (Wadsworth et al., in press). In addition to understanding basic and developmental processes involved in how children and families cope with stress, my research focuses on the role of low SES, stress, and poverty in the development of psychopathology. Thus, I have examined how SES is related to the emergence of psychopathology over time (Wadsworth & Achenbach, 2005), and much of my research has focused on examining the extent to which poverty-related stress is a mediator of the effects of low SES on symptoms of psychopathology (e.g., Wadsworth et al., in press).

A second area of inquiry entails a focus on cultural diversity and the strengths and resources that indigenous cultures bring to the coping table. We have found that cultural/ethnic identity is related to how ethnic minority teens cope with stress, and that identity and coping both constitute distinct yet related parts of the adaptation process for such youths (Wadsworth, Rieckmann et al., 2004; Rieckmann, Wadsworth, & Dehyle; 2004). I have continued to expand this focus on adaptation to include the cultural context, perhaps best exemplified in our current NSF-funded project examining stress and coping in evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. In this project, we examine the intersection of race and class in the adaptation of a very diverse group of individuals and families displaced by the hurricane to Colorado. The third wave of this multidisciplinary project is currently underway, and we are conducting in-depth interviews about the stressors, adaptations, resources, disruptions, and successes experienced by evacuees. The third area of interest is prevention with at-risk families. Howard Markman and I recently received a 5-year grant to develop and evaluate a prevention program for couples with financial hardship. The project looks at the beneficial effects of a psychoeducational program targeting relationship skills, parenting, and skills for coping with financial stress. We are examining family, adult, and child outcomes.

We have a busy, active lab with both graduate and undergraduate students directly involved in all aspects of research. Students have the opportunity to work with culturally diverse parents, children, and adolescents. Students are involved in data collection, preparation, and analysis, and graduate students collaborate on grant writing, conference presentations, and manuscript publishing.

My clinical orientation is primarily cognitive-behavioral, although I have an interest in and appreciation for interpersonal approaches as well. I enjoy family work and assessments and therapy with children of all ages.

Representative Publications:

Wadsworth, M.E., Raviv, T., Reinhard, C., Wolff, B., DeCarlo, C., & Schachter, L. (in press). An Indirect Effects Model of the Association between Poverty and Child Functioning: The Role of Children's Poverty-related Stress. Stress, Trauma and Crisis: An International Journal. Special issue: Poverty and Mental Health, 10 (3/4).

Wadsworth, M.E., & Berger, L. (2006). Adolescents coping with poverty-related family stress: Prospective predictors of coping and psychological symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 57-70.

Wadsworth, M.E. (2006). Developmental psychopathology. In N.Salkind (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Development, pp. 363-369. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Wadsworth, M.E. & Achenbach, T.M. (2005). Explaining the link between low socioeconomic strata and psychopathology: Testing two mechanisms of the social causation hypothesis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 1146-1153.

Wadsworth, M.E., Raviv, T., Compas, B.E., & Connor-Smith, J.K. (2005). Parent and adolescent responses to poverty-related stress: Tests of mediated and moderated coping models. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14, 285-300.

Wadsworth, M.E., Rieckmann, T., Benson, M.A., & Compas, B.E. (2004). Coping and responses to stress in Navajo adolescents: Psychometric properties of the Responses to Stress Questionnaire. Journal of Community Psychology, 32, 391-411.

Wadsworth, M.E. & Compas, B.E. (2002). Coping with family conflict and economic strain: The adolescent perspective. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 12 (2), 243-274.

Wadsworth, M.E., Hudziak, J.J., Heath, A. & Achenbach, T.M. (2001). Latent class analysis of Child Behavior Checklist anxiety/depression in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 40(1), 106-114.

Compas, B.E., Connor, J.K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A.H., & Wadsworth, M.E. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Progress, problems, and potential in theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 127(1), 87-127.

Rieckmann, T., Wadsworth, M.E. & Deyhle, D. (2004). Cultural identity, explanatory style, and depression in Navajo adolescents. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10, 365-382.

Hudziak, J.J., Copeland, W., Stanger, C., & Wadsworth, M.E. (2004). Screening for externalizing disorders with the Child Behavior Checklist: A receiver-operating characteristic analysis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 1299-1307.

Martha E. Wadsworth
Ph.D. 2001,
University of Vermont

Assistant Professor, Clinical Child
office: Frontier Hall,
Rm. 317
phone: 303.871.2582
e-mail: mwadsworth@psy.du.edu

Director
Family Stress and Coping Lab