Research Scientist

Karen Appleyard is a developmental and clinical psychologist working as a Research Scientist at the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University. Her research and clinical interests include the correlates and consequences of parenting, developmental processes underlying adaptation to adversity, and empirically-based interventions relating to trauma and attachment.

Appleyard is a part of the evaluation team on the Durham Family Initiative (DFI), which comprises a set of prevention and intervention programs designed to reduce the rate of child maltreatment in Durham County. Currently, Appleyard is examining neighborhood- and community-level factors that contribute to rates of child maltreatment, as well as comparing approaches to measuring maltreatment in the community using hospital reports and child welfare data.

She also is collaborating with Dr. Lisa Berlin on Project M.O.M. to investigate the mechanisms and processes underlying the intergenerational transmission of parenting as well as protective factors (e.g., social support) that facilitate mothers’ adjustment to parenthood.

Appleyard also provides clinical services through the Center for Child and Family Health, and is assisting the CCFH team to evaluate the effects of the North Carolina Child Response Initiative, a police-mental health partnership designed to provide crisis intervention and support to children and families who have witnessed domestic and community violence.

Education:

• Ph.D. University of Minnesota - 2005
• MSW University of Pennsylvania - 1995

Recent Publications

1. Berlin, L.J., & Appleyard, K. (May, 2007). Supporting healthy relationships between young children and their parents: Lessons from attachment theory. Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, 23(5), 1 and 4-6.


2. Appleyard, K. Egeland, B., & Sroufe, L.A. (2007). Direct social support for young high risk children: Relations with behavioral and emotional problems across time. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 443-457.


3. Appleyard, K., Egeland, B., VanDulmen, M.H.M., & Sroufe, L.A. (2005). When more is not better: The role of cumulative risk in child behavior outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(3), 235-245.


4. Burt, K., VanDulmen, M.H.M., Carlivati, J., Egeland, B., Sroufe, L.A., Forman, D., Appleyard, K., & Carlson, E.A. (2005). Mediating links between depression and offspring psychopathology: The importance of independent data. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(5), 490-499.


5. Crick, N.R., Ostrov, J.M., Appleyard, K., Jansen, E.A., & Casas, J.F. (2004). Relational aggression in early childhood. In M. Putallaz and K.L. Bierman (Ed.).  Aggression, antisocial behavior, and violence among girls: A developmental perspective (pp. 71-89). New York: Guilford Publications.

1. Child maltreatment and later mental health problems: The mediating and moderating roles of social support during the transition to parenting, Paper presented at the International Family Violence and Child Victimization Research Conference, University of New Hampshire, Portsmouth, NH, July, 2007
2. Delineating the maladaptive pathways of child maltreatement: The role of self perception and social support, Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Sciety for Research in Child Development, Boston, MA., April, 2007
3. Supporting healthy relationships between young children and their parents: Lessons from attachment theory and research, Presentation at the Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina conference. Wilmington, NC., March, 2007
4. Correlates and Consequences of Childhood Maltreatment: Developmental Processes and Policy Implications from a Prospective Longitudinal Study of Durham Mothers, Presentation at the Child and Family Research Series, Center for Child and Family Policy, Duke University., March, 2007
5. The role of early childhood social support on later behavioral and emotional problems, Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Atlanta, GA., April, 2005