Lea Dougherty, Ph.D.

Lea Dougherty, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Director, Child Stress and Emotions Lab
Office:	1123G, Biology-Psychology
Phone:	(301) 405-5464
fax:	(301) 314-9566
E-mail:	ldougherty@psyc.umd.edu
Lab website:	http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/ldougherty/

Background Information:

Dr. Dougherty received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2008 from Stony Brook University. She completed her training with an APA-accredited internship at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Dougherty joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland in 2008.

Research Interests:

Dr. Dougherty’s research interests lie broadly in the examination of the etiology and course of depression from a developmental, life-span perspective. Within this domain, her research focuses on two areas: (1) an examination of the developmental origins of neuroendocrine dysfunction in depression, which includes examining linkages between possible endophenotypes for mood disorder and specific genotypes; and (2) understanding the phenomenology of depression in preschoolers and establishing empirically-based assessment approaches for depression, and other mood disorders, in very young children. Recent projects include: (1) examining temperamental, familial, and environmental factors as likely determinants of a neuroendocrine pathway to depression, with a particular emphasis on the relation between temperamental vulnerability to depression and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis functioning; (2) examining the relation between genetic polymorphisms and early HPA axis functioning; and (3) determining whether it is possible (and if so how) to distinguish between psychopathology and temperament in very young children.

Prospective Graduate Students:

I plan to accept graduate students for the coming year (Fall, 2010). I am particularly interested in students with interests or experience in mood disorders, diagnostic clinical assessments (e.g., PAPA, K-SADS, SCID), observational coding of children’s emotions and behaviors; children’s developing stress-response system, molecular genetics, and EEG/ERP methodology. I am currently collaborating with Dr. Tracy Riggins' Neurocognitive Development Laboratory.

Prospective students can apply to work with me through the Clinical graduate program or the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (NACS) graduate program.

Courses Taught:

Seminar in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (Graduate)
Seminar in Clinical Supervision/Laboratory (Graduate)
Seminar in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (Undergraduate - Spring, 2010)

Recent Publications:

Dougherty, L. R., Klein, D. N., Congdon, E., Canli, T., & Hayden, E. P. (in press). Interaction between 5-HTTLPR and BDNF Val66Met polymorphisms on HPA axis reactivity in preschoolers. Biological Psychology.

Dougherty, L. R., Klein, D. N., Durbin, C. E., Hayden, E. P., & Olino, T. M. (in press). Temperamental positive and negative emotionality and children's depressive symptoms: A longitudinal prospective study from age three to age ten. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Dougherty, L. R., Klein, D. N., Olino, T. M., Dyson, M., & Rose, S. (in press). Increased waking salivary cortisol and depression risk in preschoolers: The role of maternal history of melancholic depression and early child temperament. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Sheikh, H. I., Hayden, E. P., Singh, S. M., Dougherty, L. R., Olino, T. M., Durbin, C. E., & Klein, D. N. (2008). An examination of the association between the 5-HTT promoter region polymorphism and depressogenic attributional styles in childhood. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 425-428.

Klein, D. N., Dougherty, L. R. Laptook, R. S., & Olino, T. M. (2008). Temperament and risk for depression. In N. Allen & L. Sheeber (Eds.), Adolescent emotional development and the emergence of depressive disorder (pp. 238-261). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Dougherty, L. R., Klein, D. N., Olino, T. M., & Laptook, R. S. (2008). Depression in children and adolescents. In J. Hunsely, & E. Mash (Eds.), A Guide to assessments that work (pp. 69-95). New York: Oxford University Press.

Hayden, E. P., Dougherty, L. R., Maloney, B., Olino, T. M., Durbin, C. E., Sheihk, H. I., Nurnberger, J. I., Lahiri, D. K., & Klein, D. N. (2008). Early-emerging cognitive vulnerability to depression and the serotonin transporter region polymorphism. Journal of Affective Disorders, 107, 227-230.

Hayden, E. P., Dougherty, L. R., Maloney, B., Durbin, C. E., Olino, T., M., Nurnberger, J. I., Lahiri, D. K., & Klein, D. N. (2007). Temperamental fearfulness in childhood and serotonin transporter region polymorphism: A multimethod association study. Psychiatric Genetics, 17, 135-142.

Dougherty, L. R. (2006). Children’s emotionality and social status: A meta-analytic review. Social Development, 15, 394-417.

Laptook, R. S., Klein, D. N., & Dougherty, L. R. (2006). Ten-year stability of depressive personality disorder in depressed outpatients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 865-871.

Klein, D. N., Dougherty, L. R., & Olino, T. M. (2005). Toward guidelines for evidence-based assessment of depression in children and adolescents. Journal of Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology, 34, 412-432.

Dougherty, L. R., Klein, D. N., & Davila, J. (2004). A growth curve analysis of the course of dysthymic disorder: The effects of chronic stress and moderation by adverse parent-child relationships and family history. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 1012-1021.

Link to Child Stress and Emotions Lab website

Clinical Psychology Program • Department of Psychology • University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland 20742-4411 • phone: 301-405-5890 • fax: 301-314-9566 • email: jcoldren@psyc.umd.edu