Professor

Clinical Science

Office: 315A Hobbs
Phone: 615-343-8712
Fax: 615-343-9494
Email: 

Personal Website

Curriculum Vitae

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Degrees

• Ph.D. (University of Houston, 1983)

Research Area

• Development Psychopathology and Childhood Depression

Current Positions

• Professor of Psychology, Peabody College; Department Chair, Department of Psychology and Human Development; Investigator, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development

Graduate Students

• Alanna Bruce, Julia Felton, Farrah Jacquez, Beth LaGrange, Carlos Osborn, Ashley Pineda

Other Personnel

• Post-Doc Jeff Ciesla

Representative Publications

• Cole, D.A., Peeke, L.G., Dolezal, S., Murray, N., & Canzoniero, A. (in press). A longitudinal study of negative affect and self-perceived competence in young adolescents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
• Cole, D.A., Tram, J.M., Martin, J.M., Hoffman, K.B., Ruiz, M.D., Jacquez, F.M., & Maschman, T.L. (in press). Individual differences in the emergence of depressive symptoms in children and adolescents: A longitudinal investigation of parent and child reports. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
• Cole, D.A., Maxwell, S.E., Martin, J.M., Peeke, L.G., Seroczynski, A.D., Tram, J.M., Hoffman, K.B., Ruiz, M.D., Jacquez, F., & Maschman, T. (in press). Age and gender effects in multiple domains of child and adolescent self-concept: A cohort sequential longitudinal design. Child Development.
• Tram, J.M., & Cole, D.A. (in press). Self-perceived competence and the relation between life events and depressive symptoms in adolescence: Mediator or moderator? Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
• Cole, D.A., Jacquez, F., & Maschman, T.L. (in press). Social origins of depressive cognitions: A longitudinal study of self-perceived competence in children. Cognitive Therapy and Research.
• Hoffman, K.B., Cole, D.A., Martin, J.M., Tram, J.M., Seroczynski, A.D. (in press). Are cognitive errors of underestimation predictive or reflective of depressive symptoms in children: A longitudinal study, Part II. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
• Cole, D.A., Hoffman, K., Tram, J.M., & Maxwell, S.E. (2000). Structural differences in parent and child reports of children's symptoms of depression and anxiety. Psychological Assessment, 12, 174-185.
• Martin, J.M., & Cole, D.A. (2000). Stroop effects in children's internalization of feedback from peers. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 241-260.

Biography

Professor Cole's research interests center around development psychopathology in general and childhood depression in particular. Working from the premise that the origins and perpetuation of mental illness have large interpersonal components, he studies the relation between childhood depression and patterns of parent-child interactions, peer relations, and competency-based feedback from significant others. He further suggests that cognitive models of depression must take into consideration the level of the child's cognitive development. His studies imply that adult models of depression need substantial modification when applied to children. Related interests include the assessment of childhood disorders and the prediction of adolescent suicide. Understanding suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior in the context of adolescent development, is an underlying theme of this research. Other areas of research include developing new methodologies for clinical and psychopathology research, validating clinical assessment instruments, and examining change in nonexperimental research designs.