Cathryn Booth-LaForce, PhD, FAPS, RYT Professor Executive Associate Dean The Charles and Gerda Spence Endowed Professor in Nursing Adjunct Professor, Psychology Affiliate, Center on Human Development and Disability Family and Child Nursing 357920 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195-7920 Email Address: ibcb@u.washington.edu

Dr. Booth-LaForce is the Executive Associate Dean of the School of Nursing and the Charles and Gerda Spence Endowed Professor in Nursing. She is also an Adjunct Professor of Psychology and an Affiliate of the Center on Human Development and Disability and Infant Mental Health and Development. Dr. Booth-LaForce's primary research interest is the social-emotional development of children. In longitudinal projects that follow children from infancy to adolescence, she investigates early experiences in various contexts to examine how these experiences affect children's development.

Dr. Booth-LaForce is one of the principal investigators of a 10-site national longitudinal study involving over 1200 families nationwide. In the study, she and her colleagues are using an ecological model to examine the effects of various aspects of child care, the home environment, school, and the out-of-school environment on children's cognition, language, social-emotional development, and health. In another longitudinal project, she is collaborating with other investigators to study the friendships and social-emotional adjustment of aggressive, socially withdrawn, and socially competent adolescents as they transition into high school.

Dr. Booth-LaForce also is studying complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies, and psychological and physiological processes in women’s transition through menopause. In her role as a Registered Yoga Teacher, she is studying yoga and Ayurveda-based meditation as possible therapies for menopausal symptoms.

Community of Science Profile

Security, Self-Worth, and Social Functioning in Early Adolescence PowerPoint

Current Projects

• Friendship and Psychosocial Adjustment in Adolescence (Principal Investigator)
• Institute for Translational Health Sciences (Co-Investigator)
• NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development  (Principal Investigator)
• Stability and Change in Attachment and Social Functioning, Infancy to Adolescence  (Principal Investigator)

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