Dean Lauterbach

A photo of Dean Lauterbach

Professor

Psychology

303A Science Complex

734.487.0785

[email protected]

Education

  • Ph.D., Purdue University, 1994
  • MS, Purdue University, 1988
  • BS, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1984

Interests and Expertise

Beginning in the early 1990's my research focused broadly on the impact of trauma exposure and the development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, the specific areas within this broad framework have changed. Early in my career I was focused on epidemiology of trauma and PTSD (Vrana and Lauterbach, 1994) the factor structure of PTSD (King et al., 2009; Lauterbach, Vrana, King and King, 1997), instrument development (Lauterbach and Vrana, 1996), and potential risk factors for development of PTSD (Lauterbach and Vrana, 2001). This work was quite broad and included work with a variety of populations including college students (Vrana and Lauterbach, 1994), burn victims (Mason, Lauterbach, McKibben, Lawrence and Fauerbach, 2013), cross-cultural work (King et al., 2009; Lauterbach, Somer, Dell and VonDeylen, 2008) and nationally-representative samples of victims exposed to a broad array of traumas (Lauterbach, Behnke and McSweeney, 2011; Lauterbach, Vora and Rakow, 2005).

More recently, my research has narrowed to focus on child maltreatment. Admittedly, some of that initial work lacked direction and examined a range of topics including, for example, personality characteristics of child maltreatment victims (Allen and Lauterbach, 2007) and the impact of childhood trauma on the quality of parent-child relationships (Lauterbach et al., 2007). However, in 2012 I applied for and received a modest fellowship to Cornell University at the National Data Archives on Child Abuse and Neglect. Since that time my work has focused on longitudinal trajectories of symptoms among child maltreatment victims (Lauterbach, Allen, Poehacker and Phillips, 2017; Lauterbach and Armour, 2016). In addition, it has focused on risk/protective factors for symptom change (increase/decrease) among child maltreatment survivors and those at elevated risk for maltreatment. This has typically involved the use of Growth Mixture Modeling to identify distinct subgroups of maltreatment survivors defined by differences in initial levels (intercept) and symptom trajectory over time (slope).

Throughout my career I have been able to support the work of my graduate students. Some of this work focused on trauma and PTSD (cf. Reiland and Lauterbach, 2008; Reiland, Lauterbach, Harrington and Palmieri, 2014). However, other work has examined non-trauma topics including the potential role of Facebook as a mechanism for improving quality of life (McCloskey, Iwanicki, Lauterbach, Giammittorio and Maxwell, 2015), the effects of religiosity and trauma on self-esteem (Reiland and Lauterbach, 2008), cross-cultural issues (Phillips and Lauterbach, in press) and longitudinal trajectories of psychological interpersonal violence among the mothers of child maltreatment victims (Poehacker, Phillips, Riggs and Lauterbach, 2017).

Courses

  • PSY 453 History and Systems
  • PSY 605 Research Design
  • PSY 743 Psychopathology

Publications and Presentations

  • Allen, B., and Lauterbach, D. (2007). Personality characteristics of adult survivors of childhood trauma. Journal of traumatic stress, 20(4), 587–595. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jts.20195
  • King, D. W., Orazem, R. J., Lauterbach, D., King, L. A., Hebenstreit, C. L., and Shalev, A. Y. (2009). Factor structure of posttraumatic stress disorder as measured by the Impact of Event Scale-Revised: Stability across cultures and time. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 1(3), 173–187. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0016990
  • Lauterbach, D., Allen, B., Poehacker, S., and Phillips, D. (2017). Trajectories of self-regulation symptoms among child maltreatment survivors: Findings from the Longitudinal Studies of Manuscript submitted for publication.
  • Lauterbach, D., and Armour, C. (2016). Symptom trajectories among child survivors of maltreatment: Findings from the Longitudinal Studies of Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN). Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 44(2), 369–379. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10802-015-9998-6
  • Lauterbach, D., Bak, C., Reiland, S., Mason, S., Lute, M. R., and Earls, L. (2007). Quality of parental relationships among persons with a lifetime history of posttraumatic stress disorder. Journal of traumatic stress, 20(2), 161–172. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jts.20194
  • Lauterbach, D., Behnke, C., and McSweeney, L. B. (2011). Sleep problems among persons with a lifetime history of posttraumatic stress disorder alone and in combination with a lifetime history of other psychiatric disorders: a replication and extension. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 52(6), 580–586. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2011.01.007
  • Lauterbach, D., Somer, E., Dell, P., and VonDeylen, H. (2008). Abuse history and pathological dissociation among Israeli and American college students: A comparative study. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 9(1), 51–62. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15299730802073650
  • Lauterbach, D., Vora, R., and Rakow, M. (2005). The relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder and self-reported health problems. Psychosomatic Medicine, 67(6), 939–947. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.psy.0000188572.91553.a5
  • Lauterbach, D., and Vrana, S. (1996). Three studies on the reliability and validity of a self-report measure of posttraumatic stress disorder. Assessment, 3(1), 17–25.
  • Lauterbach, D., and Vrana, S. (2001). The relationship among personality variables, exposure to traumatic events, and severity of posttraumatic stress symptoms. Journal of traumatic stress, 14(1), 29–45. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1007831430706
  • Lauterbach, D., Vrana, S., King, D. W., and King, L. A. (1997). Psychometric properties of the Civilian Version of the Mississippi PTSD scale. Journal of traumatic stress, 10(3), 499–513. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1024801607043
  • Mason, S. T., Lauterbach, D., McKibben, J. B. A., Lawrence, J., and Fauerbach, J. A. (2013). Confirmatory factor analysis and invariance of the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS) in a longitudinal sample of burn patients. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 5(1), 10–17. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0028002
  • McCloskey, W., Iwanicki, S., Lauterbach, D., Giammittorio, D. M., and Maxwell, K. (2015). Are Facebook "friends" helpful? Development of a Facebook- based measure of social support and examination of relationships among depression, quality of life, and social support. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(9), 499–505. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2014.0538
  • Phillips, D., and Lauterbach, D. (in press). American Muslim immigrant mental health: The role of racism and mental health stigma. Journal of Muslim Mental Health.
  • Poehacker, S., Phillips, D., Riggs, J., and Lauterbach, D. (2017). Longitudinal Trajectory of Exposure to Psychological Interpersonal Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0886260517707309. doi: 10.1177/0886260517707309
  • Reiland, S., and Lauterbach, D. (2008). Effects of trauma and religiosity on self-esteem. Psychological Reports, 102(3), 779–790. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/PR0.102.3.779–790
  • Reiland, S., Lauterbach, D., Harrington, E. F., and Palmieri, P. A. (2014). Relationships among dispositional attributional style, trauma-specific attributions, and PTSD symptoms. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 23(8), 823–841. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2014.941083
  • Vrana, S. R., and Lauterbach, D. (1994). Prevalence of traumatic events and post-traumatic psychological symptoms in a nonclinical sample of college students. Journal of traumatic stress, 7(2), 289–302. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02102949

Professional

 

Additional Information

Expectations Of Students That Would Like To Join My Research Team

One question of central interest to students applying to work in my lab is: what am I looking for in a student?  I am primarily interested in students who want to focus their professional career on understanding the causes, consequences, and longitudinal effects of child maltreatment.  In addition, I am particularly interested in students who have experience with, or interest in, the use of advanced statistical techniques to address the problems I mentioned earlier.  Many of the data sets I work with are large and complex.  For example, I have worked with the National Comorbidity Survey, the replication of the National Comorbidity Survey and most recently the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN).  The LONGSCAN study is a 5-site longitudinal study of the prevalence, consequences, risk, and protective factors of child maltreatment.  Working with this type of data requires an eye for detail, patience, a background in child maltreatment, the ability to problem solve, and a willingness to learn contemporary data analytic techniques.

Other Interests

In 2014, I developed a psychology study abroad course devoted to the history of Western European psychology.  Since that time I have taken two groups of approximately 16 students each overseas. The class typically meets for six weeks in the US and during that time I present on topics that will not be covered while overseas. The next two weeks are spent in Austria (Vienna and Mauthausen), Germany (Würzburg and Leipzig) and England (London and Kent). Although the specific dates change from year to year, the itinerary looks like this:

  • Arrive in Vienna – Kick off dinner
  • Tour of Freud Museum
  • Tour of University of Vienna and open day – specialized lecturette on Mauthausen concentration camp and history of ethics
  • Tour of Mauthausen Concentration Camp and Travel to Würzburg, Germany
  • Tour of History of Psychology Museum and meeting with students from University of Würzburg
  • Open day – activities TBD – possibly Tour of Palace of Justice, Memorium - Nuremberg Trials, tour of Würzburg Residenz, or Fortress Marienberg
  • Travel to Leipzig, Germany, Tour of Wundt Room
  • Open day – activities TBD
  • Travel to London
  • Open day – activities TBD
  • Tour of Galton Collection
  • Tour of Darwin’s house and Bethlam Royal Hospital
  • Tour of Freud Museum – Capstone supper
  • Depart London

Doctoral students who have worked for me serve as the trip managers.