ERIC M. VERNBERG, Ph.D.

Professor, Applied Behavioral Science
Associate Director, Clinical Child Psychology Program
Director, Child and Family Services Clinic

2016 Dole Human Development Center
Department Phone: 785.864.4840
Office phone: 785.864.3582
Fax: 785.864.5202
E-mail: vernberg@ku.edu

B.A. University of South Carolina at Columbia (Psychology), 1976
M.A. University of South Carolina at Columbia (School Psychology), 1978
Ph.D. University of Virginia at Charlottesville (Clinical Psychology), 1988

Undergraduate Specialty Area(s)

Undergraduate and Graduate Courses

ABSC/PSYC 535 Developmental Psychology

Research Interests

I work from a developmental psychopathology approach to understand how experiences with violence and other traumatic events shape child and adolescent adjustment. Based on this understanding, I design and test interventions to help children maintain (or regain) developmental trajectories for healthy self-regulation and personal competence by reducing exposure to social toxins, strengthening protective factors, and providing empirically-supported psychological interventions. Current research initiatives include:

• Intensive school-based mental health services for children with serious emotional disturbances.
• Violence prevention in public schools, including bully-victim-bystander programs and threat assessment
• Children’s recovery from severely traumatic experiences, including terrorism and disasters
• Psychiatrically disturbed children’s cognitive and physiological reactions to violent movie scenes

Representative Publications

Vernberg, E. M., *Jacobs, A. K., *Nyre, J. E., *Puddy, R. W., & Roberts, M. C. (in press). Innovative treatment for children with serious emotional disturbance: Preliminary outcomes for a school-based intensive mental health program. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Vernberg, E. M. (2002). Intervention approaches following disasters. In A. M. La Greca, W. K. Silverman, E. M. Vernberg, & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism (pp. 55-72). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Roberts, M. C., *Jacobs, A. K., *Puddy, R., *Nyre, J. E., & Vernberg, E. M. (2003) Treating children with serious emotional disturbance in schools and the community. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 34, 519-526.

Anthony, J. L., Lonigan, C. J., Vernberg, E., Silverman, W., La Greca, A., & *Prinstein, M. (in press). Multisample cross-validation of a model of childhood posttraumatic stress disorder symptomotology. Journal of Traumatic Stress.

*Jacobs, A. K., *Randall, C. J., Vernberg, E. M., Roberts, M. C., & *Nyre, J. E. (in press). Providing services within a school-based intensive mental health program. In R. G. Steele & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Handbook of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families. New York: Kluwer.

*Dill, E. J., Vernberg, E. M., Fonagy, P., Twemlow, S. W., & *Gamm, B. K. (2004). Negative affect in victimized children: The roles of social withdrawal, peer rejection, and attitudes towards bullying. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 32, 159-173.

Vernberg, E. M., *Dill, E. J. (2003) Research methods for developmental psychopathology. In M. C. Roberts & S. S. Ilardi (Eds.), Methods of research in clinical psychology: A handbook. (pp. 213-231). Oxford, U.K.: Blackwell.

*Champion, K. M., Vernberg, E. M., & Shipman, K. (2003). Non-bullying victims of bullies: aggression, social skills, and friendship characteristics. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 535-551.

*Varela, R. E., Vernberg, E. M., Sanchez-Sosa, J. J., Riveros, A., *Mitchell, M.,& *Mashunkashey, J. (in press). Anxiety reporting and culturally associated interpretation biases and cognitive schemas: A comparison of Mexican, Mexican American, and European American families. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology.

Vernberg, E. M., & *Biggs, B. (2003). Resistance to violence prevention interventions in schools: Barriers and solutions. Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 5, 125-137.

Vernberg, E. M., Roberts, M. C., & *Nyre, J. E. (2002). School-based intensive mental health treatment. In D.T. Marsh & M. Fristad (Eds.), Handbook of serious emotional disturbance in children and adolescents. (pp. 412-427). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

La Greca, A. M., Silverman, W. K., Vernberg, E. M., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2002). Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

La Greca, A. M., Silverman, W. K., Vernberg, E. M., & Roberts, M. C. (Eds.). (2002). Children and disasters: Future directions for research, service delivery, and public policy. In A. M. La Greca, W. K. Silverman, E. M. Vernberg, & M. C. Roberts (Eds.), Helping children cope with disasters and terrorism (pp. 405-423). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Twemlow, S. W., Fonagy, P., Sacco, F. C., & Vernberg, E. M. (2002). Assessing adolescents who threaten homicide in schools. American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 62, 213-235.

Twemlow, S. W., Fonagy, P., Sacco, F. C., O’Toole, M. E., & Vernberg, E. M. (2002). Premeditated mass shootings in schools: Threat assessment. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 475-477.

*Prinstein, M.J., Boergers, J., & Vernberg, E.M. (2001). Overt and relational aggression in adolescents: Social-psychological adjustment of aggressors and victims. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 30, 479-491.

Vernberg, E.M., & *Johnston, C. (2001). Developmental considerations in the use of cognitive therapy for PTSD. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 15, 223-237.

Vernberg, E.M., & *Varela, R.E. (2001). Posttraumatic stress disorder: A developmental perspective. In M.W. Vasey & M.R. Dadds (Eds.), The developmental psychopathology of anxiety (pp. 386-406). New York: Oxford University Press.

*Current or former student coauthor