Psychology Department

Education

• Post-doctoral Fellowship, University of Michigan Department of Psychiatry
• Clinical Internship, Hennepin County Medical Center
• Ph.D., Developmental Psychopathology and Clinical Science, University of Minnesota
• MA, Child Psychology, University of Minnesota
• BA, Psychology, Emory University

Interests and Expertise

Dr. Jamie Lawler is a clinical and developmental psychologist with expertise in early adversity, parenting, and self-regulation. Her research program is grounded in developmental psychopathology and focuses on the impact of early life stress on the socioemotional development of children. She has a particular interest in the development of self-regulation, parent-child relationship factors that promote resilience, and interventions to support positive development in high-risk children. Her work examines developmental processes at multiple levels of analysis, incorporating biomarkers of stress, dyadic parent-child interactions, and environmental influences on parenting and child development.

Her current research projects include:

• A longitudinal study of the development of self-regulation in early childhood
• An evaluation of integrated school-based early childhood mental health clinics
• A collaborative evaluation of the Michigan Infant Mental Health Home Visiting program

Several years ago, she conducted an intervention study examining the effect of executive function training and mindfulness-based interventions on school-aged children's self-regulation. She has recently combined these training interventions into one resilience-building intervention called SMART Skills for Kids: Self-regulation, Mindfunless, And Resilience Training, which she plans to evaluate in the coming years. 

Her teaching interests include developmental psychology, child and adolescent treatment, and developmental psychopathology.

Visit the SEED lab.

Publications and Presentations

• *Buthman, A., Janisse, H., Lawler, J.M., Jefferson, S., *Glownia, K. (2024). Neighborhood Assets, Parenting, and Child Disruptive Behavior in Low-Income African American Families. Journal of Family Psychology.
• *Valledor, V., Lawler, J.M., Jefferson, S., Chow, C. M. (2024). Mother-Daughter Attachment and Body Image Outcomes in Adolescent Girls: Differential Weight Communication Mediators. Body Image. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107321. 
• Narayan, A., Brown, M., & Lawler, J.M. (2024). The Future of Childhood Maltreatment Research: Diversity and Equity-Informed Perspectives for Inclusive Methodology and Social Justice. Development and Psychopathology. p 1-13. doi:  https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579424000798
• *Aho, K., *Daugherty, M., Staples, A., Esposito, E., & Lawler, J.M. (2023). Sleep disturbance, emotional lability/negativity, and behavioral difficulties in a sample of internationally adopted children. Adoption Quarterly.https://doi.org/10.1080/10926755.2023.2217815
• Brophy-Herb, H. E., Lawler, J. M., Stacks, A. M., *Freeman, S. E., *Pitzen, J., Riggs, J., ... & Rosenblum, K. L. (2023). Longitudinal associations between parental reflective functioning and maternal mind-mindedness. Journal of Family Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001106
• Lawler, J. M., *Pitzen, J., *Aho, K. M., Ip, K. I., Liu, Y., Hruschak, J. L., ... & Fitzgerald, K. D. (2022). Self-regulation and Psychopathology in Young Children. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-022-01322-x
• Ribaudo, J., Lawler, J.M., Jester, J.M., Riggs, J., Erickson, N.L., Stacks, A.M., Brophy-Herb, H., Muzik, M., Rosenblum, K.L., and the Michigan Collaborative for Infant Mental Health Research. (2022). Maternal history of adverse experiences and PTSD symptoms impact toddlers’ early socioemotional wellbeing: The benefits of Infant Mental Health-Home Visiting. Frontiers in Psychology. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.792989 
• Lawler, J. M., Hruschak, J., *Aho, K., Lui, Y., Ip, K., Lajines-O’Neil, R., Rosenblum, K., Muzik, M., & Fitzgerald, K. (2020). The Error Related Negativity as a Neuromarker of Risk or Resilience in Young Children. Brain and Behavior. 1-16.doi: 10.1002/brb3.2008 
• Depasquale, C., Lawler, J. M., & Gunnar, M. R. (2020) Cortisol and Parenting Predict Pathways to Disinhibited Social Engagement and Social Functioning in Previously Institutionalized Children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. doi: 10.1007/s10802-020-00633-8
• Koss, K., Lawler, J. M., & Gunnar, M. R. (2019) Moderating effects of the post-adoption environment on recovery in post-institutionalized children. Development and Psychopathology. doi:10.1017/S0954579419001226
• Lawler, J. M., Esposito, E.A., *Doyle, C., & Gunnar, M. R. (2019). A Preliminary, Randomized-Controlled Trial of Mindfulness and Game-Based Executive Function Trainings to Promote Self-Regulation in Internationally-Adopted Children. Development and Psychopathology.
• Lawler, J. M., Bocknek, E., McGinnis, E., Martinez-Torteya, C., & Muzik, M. (2018) Maternal postpartum depression increases vulnerability for toddler behavior problems through infant cortisol reactivity. Infancy.
• Rosenblum, K. L., Lawler, J. M., Alafara, E., Miller, N., Schuster, M., and Muzik, M. (2017). Improving Maternal Representations in High-Risk Mothers: Randomized, Controlled Trial of the Mom Power Parenting Intervention. Child Psychiatry and Human Development.
• Lawler, J. M., Koss, K. J., and Gunnar, M. R. (2017). Bidirectional effects of parenting and child behavior in internationally adopting families. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(5), 563–573.
• Lawler, J. M., Rosenblum, K., Muzik, M., Ludtke, M., Weatherston, D., and Tableman, B. (2017). A Collaborative Process for Evaluating Infant Mental Health Home Visiting in Michigan. Psychiatric Services, 68(6), 535–538.
• Lawler, J. M., Koss, K., Doyle, C., and Gunnar, M. R. (2016). The course of early disinhibited social engagement among post-institutionalized children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(10), 1126–1134.
• Lawler, J. M., Karaketin, C., and Gehrman, R. (2016). Maltreated Children and Their Families in Juvenile Court: II. Maltreatment Recidivism. Journal of Public Child Welfare. doi: 10.1080/15548732.2016.1141151
• Raby, K. L., Lawler, J. M., Shlafer, R. J., Hesemeyer, P. S., Collins, W. A., and Sroufe, L. A. (2015). The interpersonal antecedents of supportive parenting: A prospective longitudinal study from infancy to adulthood. Developmental Psychology.
• Lawler, J. M., Hostinar, C. E., Milner, S., and Gunnar, M. R. (2014). Disinhibited Social Engagement in Post-Institutionalized Children: Differentiating Normal from Atypical Behavior. Development and Psychopathology 26(2), 451–464.

Additional Information

Lab Information

The Self-regulation, Early Experience, and Development (SEED) lab is located in 348 MJ Science Complex. Visit the lab website to learn about the SEED lab members, their current projects, and info about joining the lab. Contact Dr. Lawler with questions.

If you are interested in participating in research please join the EMU Family Participant Pool!