Dr. Julie A. Poehlmann

Julie A. Poehlmann, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Child Clinical Psychology
Ph.D., Syracuse University (1995)

Professor Poehlmann has had a joint appointment with Educational Psychology since 2004. Her primary appointment is in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the School of Human Ecology and she is affiliated with the Waisman Center.

RESEARCH STATEMENT

"Dr. Poehlmann's interests include risk and resilience in infants, toddlers, and preschoolers and their families. Her research program emphasizes the science and practice of how biological and environmental vulnerabilities interact in shaping the cognitive and social emotional development of children in high risk family contexts. Her research revolves around several issues in developmental psychopathology, including how family-level risks and protective factors combine to impact on individual and intergenerational family well-being, and how child and family development proceeds in the context of social problems.

Dr. Poehlmann's current empirical studies focus on how young children's developing cognitive abilities, attachment relationships, and behavior problems relate to child, parental, and extended family characteristics. Variables of interest include maternal depression, quality of the home environment, family belief systems, contact with grandparents, and quality of affect and reciprocity during parent-child play interactions. Dr. Poehlmann is studying interactions among these variables in high risk populations such as preterm low birthweight infants and children separated from their mothers due to maternal incarceration. In addition, Dr. Poehlmann has a strong interest in the provision and effects of early intervention services.

Dr. Poehlmann's research emphasizes how both infants and parents make contributions to their relationships with each other, rather than emphasizing parental characteristics like much existing attachment work. Her findings bridge attachment theory with more ecologically-based transactional developmental theories.."

REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

Poehlmann, J. (2004, in press). Incarcerated mothers’ contact with children, perceived family relationships, and depressive symptoms. Journal of Family Psychology.

Poehlmann, J., White, T., & Bjerke, K. (2004). Integrating HIV risk reduction into family programs for women offenders: A family relationship perspective. Family Relations, 53, 27-37.

Poehlmann, J., Brintnall-Peterson, M., Shlafer, R., & Morgan, K. (2003). Through the eyes of a child: Grandparents raising grandchildren. University of Wisconsin Extension Publication (http://www.uwex.edu/relationships)

Poehlmann, J. (2003). An attachment perspective on grandparents raising their very young grandchildren: Implications for intervention and research. Infant Mental Health Journal, 24, 149-173.

Poehlmann, J., & Fiese, B. H. (2001). Early parent-infant interaction as a mediator of the relation between neonatal risk status and 12-month cognitive development. Infant Behavior and Development, 24, 171-188.

Fiese, B. H., Poehlmann, J., Irwin, M., Gordon, M., & Curry-Bleggi, E. (2001). A pediatric screening instrument to detect problematic infant-parent interactions: Initial reliability and validity in a sample of high and low risk infants. Infant Mental Health Journal, 22, 463-478.

Poehlmann, J., & Fiese, B. H. (2001). The interaction of maternal and infant vulnerabilities on developing infant-mother attachment relationships. Development and Psychopathology, 13, 1-11.

CONTACT DR. Poehlmann:

Address: Waisman Center, UW-Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, WI 53705

Phone: (608) 263-4839

E-mail: poehlmann@waisman.wisc.edu