Labslink - View Lab Profile : Bio-Behavioral Family Studies

The main purpose of the Family Pathways Project is to better understand families and how they grow. Dr. Karlen Lyons-Ruth, a child psychologist at Cambridge Health Alliance, started the project more than 20 years ago with 75 pairs of new mothers and their babies from the Somerville and Cambridge area. It was known then as the Family Support Project. At that time, the focus was on the earliest years of the parent-child relationship. Staff made home visits and families came into the office too. According to Karlen, "Lots of research studies don't spend this much time with their participants, but we wanted to make sure we really got to know all the people we were going to be working with. We wanted a sense of their history. We asked to hear their stories. Everyone has stresses, and starting a family can add to those stresses."

The study asked new parents how they dealt with the stresses of everyday life. Then, when the children were 4-5 years old, and again when they were 7-9, families shared their personal experiences and stories about the elementary school years. Now, we are following up to see what life has been like since then, especially as the children moved through adolescence into young adulthood.

What have we learned so far?

One thing we have learned is that a strong parent-child bond early in life is very meaningful for later development. We have also learned that families have many different styles of communication. Also, as families and children have grown, there are a number of ways that they cope with life's challenges and changes.

What is this stage of the study about?

Parents and teens often say that adolescence and young adulthood is a complicated time for everyone. We are interested in learning more about the things families feel and think about their relationships as they go through these transitions. As young people try out their own ways of doing things and strive to be independent, things can become difficult and confusing for families.

We want to learn more about what this period of change is like in order to discover how different families handle the different changes. Right now, we are fortunate to be able to interview not only the families that we've been in contact with for 20 years, but 60 new mothers and their adolescent/young adult children as well.

Thank you for your continued participation.

For those of you who recently have been in for a visit or in touch by phone or mail, all of us at the Family Pathways Project wish to thank you for your continued participation. For those of you we haven't seen yet, we look forward to speaking to you soon and learning about changes and new developments in your families.

RESEARCH ARTICLES

Lyons-Ruth, K. Contributions of the mother-infant relationship to dissociative, borderline, and conduct symptoms in young adulthood. Infant Mental Health Journal. In press.

Lyons-Ruth, K., & Jacobvitz, D. Attachment disorganization: Unresolved loss, relational violence, and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In: Solomon J, George C, editors. Attachment disorganization. 2nd Edition. New York: Guilford. In press.

Henninghausen, K., Bureau, J., David, D., Hauser, S. & Lyons-Ruth, K. Disorganized attachment in adolescence. In: Solomon J, George C, editors. Attachment disorganization. 2nd Edition. New York: Guilford. In press.

Bureau, J., Easterbrooks, M. A., & Lyons-Ruth, K. Maternal depressive symptoms in infancy: Unique contribution to children's depressive symptoms in childhood and adolescence? Development and Psychopathology. In press.

Gunderson, J. & Lyons-Ruth, K. BPD's interpersonal hypersensitivity phenotype: A gene-environment transactional model. Journal of Personality Disorder. In press.

Lyons-Ruth, K. The interface between attachment and intersubjectivity: Perspective from the longitudinal study of disorganized attachment. Psychoanalytic Inquiry. In Press

Melnick, S., Finger, B., Hans, S., Patrick, M. & Lyons-Ruth, K. Hostile-Helpless States of Mind in the Adult Attachment Interview : A Proposed Additional AAI Category with Implications for Identifying Disorganized Infant Attachment in High-Risk Smaples. In H. Steele (Ed.) Clinical Applications of the Adult Attachment Interview. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Holmes, B.M., Sasvari-Szekely, M., Ronai, Z., Nemoda, Z. & Pauls, D. Serotonin transporter polymorphism and borderline/antisocial traits among low-income young adults. Psychiatric genetics, 2007; 17; 339-343.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Melnick, S., Patrick, M. & Hobson, R.P. A controlled study of hostile-helpless states of mind among borderline and dysthymic women. Attachment and Human development, 2007; 9; 1-16.

Gervai, J., Novak, A., Lakatos, K., Toth, I., Danis, I., Ronai, Z., Nemoda, Z., Sasvari-Szekely, M., Bureau, JF., Bronfman, E., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2007) Infant genotype may moderate sensitivity to maternal affective communications: Attachment disorganization, quality of care, and the DRD4 polymorphism. Social Neuroscience,2, 1-13.

Holmes, B. M., Lyons-Ruth, K. The RQ-clinical version: Introducing a profoundly-distrustful attachment orientation with validation. Infant Mental Health Journal 2006; 27: 310-325.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Dutra, L., Schuder, M., Bianchi, I. From Infant Attachment Disorganization to Adult Dissociation: Relational Adaptations or Traumatic Experiences? In R. Chevetz, Ed. Dissociative Disorders. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 2006; 29: 63-86.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Easterbrooks, MA. Assessing Mediated Models of Family Change in Response to Infant Home-Visiting: A Two-Phase Longitudinal Analysis. Infant Mental Health Journal, 2006; 27:55-69.

Kobak, R., Cassidy, J., Lyons-Ruth, K., & Ziv, Y. Attachment, stress, and psychopathology: A developmental pathways model. In Cicchetti, D. and Cohen, D. Developmental Psychopathology, Second Edition, New York: Wiley; 2006; p. 333-369.

Nemoda, Z., Ronai, Z., Sasvari-Szekely, M., Pauls, D., Holmes, B., & Lyons-Ruth, K. (2005). Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism Associated with Borderline and Antisocial Features [Abstract]. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 138B, 112.

Boston Change Process Study Group. The foundational level of psychodynamic meaning: Implicit process in relation to conflict, defense, and the dynamic unconscious. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, in press. (Study Group members in alphabetical order: Bruschweiler-Stern, N., Harrison, A., Lyons-Ruth, K., Morgan, A., Nahum, J., Sander, L., Stern, D., Tronick, E.).

Lyons-Ruth, K. L'Interface entre attachment et intersubjectivite: Perspectives issues de l'etude longitudinale de l'attachment desorganise. Psychotherapies 2005; 25:223-234.

David, D., Lyons-Ruth, K. Differential Attachment Responses of Male and Female Infants to Frightening Maternal Behavior: Tend or Befriend vs. Fight or Flight? Infant Mental Health Journal, 2005; 26(1): 1-18.

Boston Change Process Study Group. The 'something more' than interpretation revisited: Sloppiness and cocreativity in the psychoanalytic encounter. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 2005; 53; 693-729. (Study Group members in alphabetical order: Bruschweiler-Stern, N., Harrison, A., Lyons-Ruth, K., Morgan, A., Nahum, J., Sander, L., Stern, D., Tronick, E.).

Lyons-Ruth, K., Yellin, C., Melnick, S., Atwood, G. Expanding the concept of unresolved mental states: Hostile/Helpless states of mind on the adult attachment interview are associated with atypical maternal behavior and infant disorganization. Development and Psychopathology, 2005; 17:1-23.

Henninghausen, K. & Lyons-Ruth, K. Disorganization of Behavioral and Attentional Strategies Toward Primary Attachment Figures: From Biologic to Dialogic Processes. In Carter, S., Ahnert, L. et al., editors. .Attachment and Bonding: A New Synthesis. Dahlem Workshop Report 92. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2005; p. 269-301.

Agrawal, H.R., Gunderson, J., Holmes, B.M., Lyons-Ruth, K. Attachment studies with borderline patients: A review. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 2004; 12: 94-104.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Melnick, S. Dose-response effect of mother-infant clinical home-visiting on aggressive behavior problems in Kindergarten. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2004; 43(6): 699-707.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Melnick, S.,Bronfman,E., Sherry, S., Llanas, L. Hostile-helpless relational models and disorganized attachment patterns between parents and their young children: Review of research and implications for clinical work. In Atkinson, L., Goldberg, S., editors. Attachment Issues in Psychopathology and Intervention. Mahwah, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum; 2004; p. 65-94.

Lyons-Ruth K, Zeanah C, Benoit D. Disorder and risk for disorder during infancy and toddlerhood. In: Mash E, Barkley R, editors. Child psychopathology. New York: Guilford; 1996; p. 457-491; Second edition, 2003.

Schuder, M., & Lyons-Ruth, K. "Hidden Trauma" in Infancy: Attachment, Fearful Arousal, and Early Dysfunction of the Stress Response System. In Osofsky, J. (Ed.). Trauma in Infancy and Early Childhood. NY: Guilford Press; 2004; p. 69-104.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Yellin, C., Melnick, S., Atwood, G. Childhood experiences of trauma and loss have different relations to maternal unresolved and hostile-helpless states of mind on the AAI. Attachment and Human Developmen,t 2003; 5:330-352.

Lyons-Ruth, K. El inconsciente bipersonal: el diálogo intersubjectivo, la representación relacional actuada y la emergencia de nuevas formas de organización relacional. Aperturas Psicoanaliticas, 4.

Lyons-Ruth K, Wolfe R, Lyubchik A, Grogan T, Steingard R. Prevalance and correlates of depressive symptoms in parents of children under three: Results of the Commonwealth Survey. In: Halfon N, McLearn K, Schuster M. editors. Child rearing in America: Challenges facing parents with young children. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press; 2002; p.217-259.

Lyons, K., Lyubchik, A., Wolfe, R., Bronfman, E. Parental depression and child attachment: Hostile and helpless profiles of parent and child behavior among families at risk. In: Goodman S, Gotlib I editors. Children of depressed parents: Alternative pathways to risk for psychopathology. Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association Press; 2002; p. 89-121.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Melnick S., & Bronfman, E. Hostile-helpless relational models and interaction patterns between disorganized infants and their mothers. In Brisch, K-H., Grossmann, K., Grossmann K.E., & Kohler, L., editors. Bindungen und seelische Entwicklungswege: Vorbeugung, Intervention und klinische Praxis. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta. 2002; p. 249-276.

Lyons-Ruth, K. and the Boston Change Process Study Group. The emergence of new experiences: Relational improvisation, recognition process, and non-linear change in psychoanalytic therapy. Psychologist-Psychoanalyst, Vol. XXI, No. 4, Fall 2001, 13-17.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Lyubchik, A., & DiLallo, J. (2000) The impact of early home-visiting services on behavior problems and social competence in kindergarten: A three and a half year followup. Congress Abstracts, 7th World Conference of the World Association for Infant Mental Health, Infant Mental Health Journal, 21, (4-5), 292.

Easterbrooks, M.A, Biesecker,G., Lyons-Ruth, K.Infancy predictors of emotional availability in middle childhood: The roles of attachment security and maternal depressive symptomatology. Attachment and Human Development 2000; 2:170-187.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Wolfe,R., Lyubchik, A. Depression and the parenting of young children: Making the case for early preventive mental health services. Harvard Rev Psychiatry 2000; 8: 148-153.

Lyons-Ruth, K. From birth to school-age: Influence of maternal factors, infant attachment, and preventive intervention on outcomes of the infant at social risk. Prospettive Psicoanalitiche nel Lavoro Instituzionale 1999; 2; 165-198.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Bronfman, E. , Parsons, E. Frightened, frightening, and atypical maternal behavior and disorganized infant attachment strategies. In J. Vondra and D. Barnett (Eds.) Atypical Attachment in Infancy and Early Childhood Among Children at Developmental Risk. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 1999, 64(3, Serial No. 258):67-96.

Lyons-Ruth K, Bronfman, E, Atwood G. A relational diathesis model of hostile-helpless states of mind: Expressions in mother-infant interaction. In: Solomon J, George C, editors. Attachment disorganization. New York: Guilford, 1999; p. 33-69.

Lyons-Ruth K, Jacobvitz D. Attachment disorganization: Unresolved loss, relational violence, and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In: Cassidy J, Shaver P, editors. Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications. New York: Guilford; 1999; p. 520-554.

Lyons-Ruth, K. Lexicons, eyes, and videotape: Invited commentary on Steele, H. & Steele, M. Bowlby and psychoanalysis: Time for a reunion. Social Development 1998; 7:127-131.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Easterbrooks, M., Cibelli, C. Disorganized attachment strategies and mental lag in infancy: Prediction of externalizing problems at age seven. Developmental Psychology, 1997; 33: 681-692.

Lyons-Ruth, K. Attachment relationships among children with aggressive behavior problems: The role of disorganized early attachment patterns. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1996; 64:64-73.

Lyons-Ruth, K., Block D. The disturbed caregiving system: The disturbed caregiving system: Relations among childhood trauma, maternal caregiving, and infant affect and attachment. Infant Mental Health Journal 1996; 17: 157-275. Abstracted in the Brown University Child Development Newsletter, Fall 1996.

Lyons-Ruth, K. Broadening our conceptual frameworks: Can we reintroduce relational strategies and implicit representational systems to the study of psychopathology? Invited commentary on the special section on Parental depression and distress: Implications for the development of offspring, Developmental Psychology 1995; 31:432-436.

Alpern L, Lyons-Ruth K. Preschool children at social risk: Chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at school and at home, Development and Psychopathology 1993; 5:369-385. Abstracted in Clinician's Research Digest 1993; 11: 6.

Lyons-Ruth K, Alpern L, Repacholi B. Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom, Child Development 1993; 64: 572-585.

Lyons-Ruth K, Zeanah C, Benoit D. Disorder and risk for disorder during infancy and toddlerhood. In: Mash E, Barkley R, editors. Child psychopathology. New York: Guilford; 1996; p. 457-491.

Lyons-Ruth K, Zeanah C. The family context of infant mental health Part I: Affective development in the primary caregiving relationship. In: Zeanah C, editor. Handbook of infant mental health. New York: Guilford; 1993; p. 14-37. Lyons-Ruth,Zeanah(1993).pdf

Crockenberg S, Lyons-Ruth K, Dickstein S. The family context of infant mental health Part II: Infant development in multiple family relationships. In: Zeanah C, editor. Handbook of infant mental health. New York: Guilford; 1993; p. 38-55.

Lyons-Ruth K. Maternal depressive symptoms, disorganized infant-mother attachment relationships and hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom: A prospective longitudinal view from infancy to age five. In: Cicchetti D, Toth S, editors. Rochester symposium on developmental psychopathology, Vol. 4: A developmental approach to affective disorders. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum; 1992; p.131-171.

Lyons-Ruth K, Repacholi B, McLeod S, Silva E. Disorganized attachment behavior in infancy: Short-term stability, maternal and infant correlates and risk-related subtypes, Development and Psychopathology 1991; 3:377-396.

Lyons-Ruth K, Connell D, Grunebaum H, Botein D. Infants at social risk: Maternal depression and family support services as mediators of infant development and security of attachment, Child Development 1990; 61:85-98. Abstracted in Pediatrics Digest 1990; 8: 26-27.

Lyons-Ruth K, Connell D, Grunebaum H. Family deviance and family disruption in childhood: Associations with maternal behavior and infant maltreatment during the first two years of life, Development and Psychopathology 1989; 1:219-236.

Lyons-Ruth K, Connell D, Zoll D. Patterns of maternal behavior among infants at risk for abuse: Relations with infant attachment behavior and infant development at 12 months of age. In: Cicchetti D, Carlson V, editors. Child maltreatment: theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect. New York: Cambridge University Press; 1989; p. 464-493.

Lyons-Ruth K, Connell D, Zoll D, Stahl J. Infants at social risk: Relationships among infant maltreatment, maternal behavior, and infant attachment behavior, Developmental Psychology 1987; 23:223-232.

Cohn J, Tronick E, Matias R, Lyons-Ruth K. Face-to-face interactions of depressed mothers with their infants. In: Tronick E, Field T, editors. Maternal depression and infant disturbance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1986; p. 31-44.

Lyons-Ruth K, Zoll D, Connell D, Grunebaum H. The depressed mother and her one-year-old infant: Environmental context, mother-infant interaction and attachment and infant development. In: Tronick E, Field T, editors. Maternal depression and infant disturbance. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1986; p. 61-82.

Lyons-Ruth K, Botein S, Grunebaum H. Reaching the hard to reach: Serving multi-risk families with infants in the community. In: Cohler B, Musick J, editors. Intervention with psychiatrically disabled parents and their young children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1984; p. 95-122.

Lyons-Ruth K, Connell D, Grunebaum H, Botein S, Zoll D. Maternal family history, maternal caretaking and infant attachment in multi-problem families, Journal of Preventive Psychiatry 1984; 2:403-425. Lyons-Ruth,

Lyons-Ruth K. Developing a language of human action: Subjective goal as semantic component of the verb give, Child Development 1981; 52:866-872.

Landry M, Lyons-Ruth K. Recursive structure in cognitive perspective-taking, Child Development 1980; 51:386-394.

Lyons-Ruth K. Moral and personal value judgments of preschool children, Child Development 1978; 49:1197-1207.

Lyons-Ruth K. Bimodal perception in infancy: Response to auditory-visual incongruity, Child Development 1977; 48:820-827.

Contact Information:

Karlen Lyons-Ruth

Phone: 617-503-8473

Fax:

E-Mail: klruth@hms.harvard.edu