Bruce Compas

Professor

Clinical Science

Office: 309A Hobbs
Phone: 615-322-8306
Fax: 615-343-9494
Email:

Personal Website

Curriculum Vitae

Degrees

Ph.D. (University of California, Los Angeles, 1980)

Current Research

(1) Family Cognitive-Behavioral Prevention of Depression in Families of Depressed Parents; (2) Parent-Child Communication and Coping with Pediatric Cancer; (3) Neuropsychological Sequelae of Pediatric Cancer; (4) Mother-Daughter Communication and Stress in Response to Breast Cancer Risk; (5) Stress, Coping and Anxiety in Recurrent Pediatric Pain; (6) Daily Assessment of Stress, Coping and Pain in Children with Sickle Cell Disease.

Current Positions

Professor of Psychology, Peabody College; Patricia and Rodes Hart Professor of Psychology and Human Development, Professor of Pediatrics; Member, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development; Co-Director of Clinical Psychology Program.

Professional 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.

Representative Publications

Connor-Smith, J.K., Compas, B.E., Wadsworth, M.E., Thomsen, A.H., & Saltzman, H. (2000). Responses to stress in adolescence: Measurement of coping and involuntary responses to stress. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 976-992.
Compas, B.E., Connor-Smith, J.K., Saltzman, H., Thomsen, A.H., & Wadsworth, M. (2001). Coping with stress during childhood and adolescence: Progress, problems, and potential. Psychological Bulletin, 127, 87-127.
Compas, B.E., & Luecken, L. (2002). Psychological adjustment to breast cancer. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 111-114.
Anderson-Hanley, C., Sherman, M., Riggs, R., Agocha, V. B., & Compas, B. E. (2003). Neuropsychological effects of treatments for adults with cancer: A meta-analysis and review of the literature. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 9, 967-982.
Grant, K.E., Compas, B.E., Stuhlmacher, A.F., Thurm, A.E., & McMahon, S.D. (2003). Stress and child/adolescent psychopathology: Moving from markers to mechanisms of risk. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 447-466.
Compas, B.E., Connor-Smith, J.K., & Jaser, S. S. (2004). Temperament, stress reactivity, and coping: Implications for depression in childhood and adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33, 21-31.
Jaser, S.S., Langrock, A.M., Keller, G., Merchant, M.J., Benson, M., Reeslund, K., Champion,J.E., & Compas, B.E. (2005). Coping with the Stress of Parental Depression II: Adolescent and Parent Reports of Coping and Adjustment. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 193-205.
Boyer, M.C., Compas, B.E., Stanger, C., Colletti, R.B., Konik, B.S., Morrow, S.B., & Thomsen, A.H.. (in press). Attentional biases to pain and social threat in children with recurrent abdominal pain. Journal of Pediatric Psychology.
Compas, B.E., Beckjord, E., Agocha, B., Sherman, M.L., Langrock, A., Grossman, C., Dausch, B., Glinder, J., Kaiser, C., Anderson-Hanley, C., & Luecken, L. (in press). Measurement of coping and stress responses in women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology.
News Articles
Compas explores psychological effects of cancer - The Reporter, Vanderbilt Medical Center (November 8, 2002)
Pain and Symptom Management Program - Vanderbilt Medicine Magazine (Fall, 2002)
Hart Family Endows Their Second Peabody Chair - Peabody Reflector (Winter, 2003)

Biography

Prof. Compas is the Patricia and Rodes Hart Professsor of Psychology and Human Development, Co-Director of Clinical Psychology Training, and Director of Psycho-Oncology at 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 stress, 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 field research to understand self-regulation and coping in the context of psychopathology and physical illness. Current studies include (a)testing 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) neuropsychological effects of chemotherapy in pediatric cancer patients; (d) psychological and biological responses to stress among mothers and daughters coping with risk for breast cancer; (e) psychological, social, and biological processes in the course of recurrent pain in children and adolescents; and (f) stress and episodes of pain in children with sickle cell disease.