Contact Information
Email
Lab Website
Website
(615) 322-8306
309A Hobbs
Research Area
- Clinical Science
- Interdisciplinary
Education
Ph.D. (University of California, Los Angeles, 1980)
Curriculum Vitae
Current Courses
Psychobiology of Stress and Coping
Pediatric Health Psychology
Psychopathology
Advising
- Charissa Andreotti
(Graduate Student) - Madeleine Dunn
(Graduate Student) - Kelly Watson
(Graduate Student) - Heather Bemis
(Graduate Student) - Jennifer Potts
(Graduate Student) - Michelle Reising
(Graduate Student) - Kristen Robinson
(Graduate Student) - Erin Rodriguez
(Graduate Student) - Leandra Desjardins
(Graduate Student)
Bruce Compas
Patricia and Rodes Hart Chair of Psychology and Human Development
Professor of Pediatrics
Co-Director, Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychological Science
Investigator, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development
Bruce Compas is the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professsor of Psychology and Human Development, co-director of Clinical Psychology Training, and a member of the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. His research is focused on processes of coping and self-regulation in response to stress and adversity in children, adolescents, and adults. He is specifically interested in the relationships of coping and self-regulation with both physical health/illness and psychopathology, and the development of interventions to enhance the ways that individuals and families cope with stress. His research involves both laboratory methods to study basic behavioral and biological processes, and clinical research to understand coping and self-regulation in the context of psychopathology and physical illness. Current studies include (a)development and evaluation of the effects of a family cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention for children and adolescents coping with the effects of parental depression; (b) communication, coping and adjustment in pediatric cancer patients and their parents; (c) neurocognitive effects of chemotherapy and radiation therapy in children with leukemia and central nervous system tumors; (d) neurocognitive deficits in children with sickle cell disease. His research is funded by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Cancer Institute, and generous gifts from Patricia and Rodes Hart and the Justin and Valerie Potter Foundation.
Current research focuses on:
(1) Family Cognitive-Behavioral Prevention of Depression in Families of Depressed Parents; (2) Parent-Child Communication and Coping with Pediatric Cancer; (3) Remediation of Neurocognitive Problems in Children with Central Nervous System Tumors; (4)Neurocognitive Function in Children with Sickle Cell Disease.
Representative Publications
- Campbell, L.K., Scaduto, M., Van Slyke, D., Niarhos, F., Whitlock, J.A., & Compas, B.E. (2009). Executive function, coping and behavior in survivors of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 34, 317-327.
- Compas, B.E., Forehand, R., Keller, G., Champion, A., Reeslund, K.L., McKee, L., Fear, J.M., Colletti, C.J.M., Hardcastle, E., Merchant, M.J., Roberts, L., Potts, J., Garai, E., Coffelt, N., Roland, E., Sterba, S.K., & Cole, D.A. (2009). Randomized clinical trial of a family cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention for children of depressed parents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 1009-1020.
- Robinson, K.E., Kuttesch, J., Champion, J., Andreotti, C., Hipp, D., Bettis, A., Barnwell, A., & Compas, B.E. (2010). A quantitative meta-analysis of neurocognitive sequelae of pediatric brain tumors. Pediatric Blood and Cancer, 55, 525-531.
- Robinson, K.E., Livesay, K.L., Campbell, L.K., Scaduto, M., Cannistraci, C.J., Anderson, A.W., Whitlock, J.A., & Compas, B.E. (2010). Working memory in survivors of childhood acute lymphocytic leukemia: Functional neuroimaging analyses. Pediatric Blood and Cancer, 54, 585-590.
- Compas, B.E., Champion, J.E., Forehand, R., Cole, D.A., Reeslund, K.L., Fear, J., Hardcastle, J., Keller, G., Rakow, A., Garai, E., Merchant, M.J., & Roberts, L. (2010). Coping and Parenting: Mediators of 12-month outcomes of a family group cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention with families of depressed parents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 623-634.
- Compas, B.E., Forehand, R., Thigpen, J.C., Keller, G., Hardcastle, E.J., Cole, D.A., Potts, J., Haker, K., Rakow, A., Colletti, C., Reeslund, K., Fear, J., Garai, E., McKee, L., Merchant, M.J., & Roberts, L. (2011). Family group cognitive-behavioral preventive intervention for families of depressed parents: 18- and 24-month outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79, 488-499.
- Jaser, S.S., Champion, J.E., Dharamsi, K.R., Reising, M.M., & Compas, B.E. (2011). Coping and positive affect in adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 20, 353-360 .
- Watson, K.H., Potts, J., Hardcastle, E.J., Forehand, R., & Compas, B.E. (2012, in press). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms in sons and daughters of mothers with depression. Journal of Child and Family Studies.
- Rodriguez, E.M., Dunn, M.J., Zuckerman, T., Vannatta, K., Gerhardt, C.A., & Compas, B.E. (2012, in press). Cancer-related sources of stress for children with cancer and their parents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
- Dunn, M.J., Rodriguez, E.M., Barnwell, A.S., Grossenbacher, J.C., Vannatta, K., Gerhardt, C.A., & Compas, B.E. (2012, in press). Posttraumatic stress symptoms in parents of children with cancer within six months of diagnosis. Health Psychology.
- Compas, B.E., Jaser, S.S., Dunn, M.J., & Rodriguez, E.M. (2012, in press). Coping with chronic illness in childhood and adolescence. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology.
- Andreotti, C., Thigpen, J.E., Dunn, M.J., Watson, K.H., Potts, J., Reising, M.M., Robinson, K.E., Rodriguez, E.M., Roubinov, D.M., Luecken, L. & Compas, B.E. (2012, in press). Cognitive reappraisal and secondary control coping: Associations with working memory, positive and negative affect, and symptoms of anxiety/depression. Anxiety, Stress and Coping.
Honors
- Fellow, American Psychological Association
- Charter Fellow, American Psychological Society
- Ranked as 22nd Highest Impact Author in Psychology, Institute for Scientific Information, 1986-1990
- University Scholar Award, University of Vermont, 1994
- Celebration of Excellence Award, Pizzagalli Corporation, 2001.
- Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor, Vanderbilt University, 2011