Darby Saxbe
OccupationProfessor
Academic background
EducationYale University
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
Academic work
DisciplineClinical psychology
Sub-disciplineStress in close relationships
InstitutionsUniversity of Southern California

Darby Saxbe is a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Southern California, who researches stress within the context of relationships.

Research interests

She researches stress within a close relationship context, with a focus on the transition to parenthood as a nexus of neural, hormonal, behavioral and psychological change.[1] She has also studied hormonal linkage within couples and families, finding that partners with more strongly correlated cortisol levels report more relationship distress[2][3] and that expectant couples may show linked levels of testosterone which in turn predict paternal relationship investment.[4] She has also found that testosterone levels in new fathers are associated with both their own and their partners' postpartum depressive symptoms,[5] and has examined sleep as another mechanism for within-couple transmission of postpartum depression risk.[6]

Education and awards

Saxbe received her BA in English Literature and Psychology from Yale University and her Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2018, she was awarded an American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology in the field of health psychology. She has also been named an Association for Psychological Science Rising Star, received the Society for Research in Child Development Early Career Award in 2015, the Caryl Rusbult Early Career Award for Relationship Research from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in 2017, and a Fulbright Program Fellowship to Barcelona, Spain in fall 2019 to study cross-cultural perspectives on the parenting brain.

Teaching

Saxbe directs the USC Center for the Changing Family, a group of affiliated faculty from across the University of Southern California, including faculty from Psychology, Sociology, Economics, Pediatrics, Social Work, Law, and Preventive Medicine who study families from different methodological lenses.

Media and consulting

Her work and writing have been featured in The Conversation,[7] Slate,[8] Fast Company,[9] NPR,[10] the New York Times,[11] and elsewhere. She has consulted on books including Jancee Dunn's How Not to Hate Your Husband After Kids and Eve Rodsky's Fair Play.

References

  1. ^ Saxbe, D.; Rossin-Slater, M.; Goldenberg, D. (2018). "The transition to parenthood as a critical window for adult health". The American Psychologist. 73 (9): 1190–1200. doi:10.1037/amp0000376. PMID 30525801. S2CID 54475249.
  2. ^ Saxbe, Darby; Repetti, Rena L. (2010). "For better or worse? Coregulation of couples' cortisol levels and mood states". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 98 (1): 92–103. doi:10.1037/a0016959. PMID 20053034.
  3. ^ Saxbe, Darby E.; Adam, Emma K.; Schetter, Christine Dunkel; Guardino, Christine M.; Simon, Clarissa; McKinney, Chelsea O.; Shalowitz, Madeleine U. (2015-12-01). "Cortisol covariation within parents of young children: Moderation by relationship aggression". Psychoneuroendocrinology. 62: 121–128. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.08.006. PMC 4549795. PMID 26298691.
  4. ^ Saxbe, Darby E.; Edelstein, Robin S.; Lyden, Hannah M.; Wardecker, Britney M.; Chopik, William J.; Moors, Amy C. (2017-04-01). "Fathers' decline in testosterone and synchrony with partner testosterone during pregnancy predicts greater postpartum relationship investment". Hormones and Behavior. 90: 39–47. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2016.07.005. PMID 27469070. S2CID 205807726.
  5. ^ Saxbe, Darby E.; Schetter, Christine Dunkel; Simon, Clarissa D.; Adam, Emma K.; Shalowitz, Madeleine U. (2017-09-01). "High paternal testosterone may protect against postpartum depressive symptoms in fathers, but confer risk to mothers and children". Hormones and Behavior. 95: 103–112. doi:10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.07.014. PMID 28757312. S2CID 4701547.
  6. ^ Saxbe, Darby E.; Schetter, Christine Dunkel; Guardino, Christine M.; Ramey, Sharon L.; Shalowitz, Madeleine U.; Thorp, John; Vance, Maxine; Network, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development Community Child Health (2016-12-01). "Sleep Quality Predicts Persistence of Parental Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Transmission of Depressive Symptoms from Mothers to Fathers". Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 50 (6): 862–875. doi:10.1007/s12160-016-9815-7. PMC 6644068. PMID 27492636.
  7. ^ "Paid family leave is an investment in public health, not a handout". Archived from the original on 2019-02-20.
  8. ^ "She Asked for Help for Postpartum Depression. The Nurse Called the Cops". Archived from the original on 2018-01-24.
  9. ^ "Want schools to reopen? Education needs an epic bailout". Archived from the original on 2020-07-14.
  10. ^ "Mothers overwhelmingly supervise remote learning, poll finds". Archived from the original on 2020-10-25.
  11. ^ "Love and Structure Will Carry Us Through". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-03-25.
Categories