My research focuses on the development and course of interpersonal functioning and psychopathology among adolescents and adults. My work has proceeded along three related lines:

· The interpersonal causes and consequences of depression and anxiety
· Risk factors for the development of romantic relationship dysfunction
· The role of attachment representations in interpersonal functioning

· First, I am interested in development, continuity, and change over time and my research attempts to answer questions regarding how early experiences affect later outcomes, who is most likely to repeat maladaptive behaviors, and the conditions under which people and relationships change or stay the same over time.

· Second, I am interested in dynamic associations between people and their environments. Although much of my work focuses on intrapersonal variables, such as personality and psychopathology, I am interested in the consequences of intrapersonal factors for people’s interpersonal worlds and in how people both shape and are shaped by their circumstances.

· Finally, I am interested in the role that relationships play in people’s lives. Consistent with many clinical, developmental, and social psychological theorists, I view people’s thoughts and feelings about, experiences in, and behaviors in relationships as centrally important to well being. In line with this, my research has been informed by various interpersonal theories of development, particularly attachment theory.

· I am interested in these issues among adolescents and adults and people of all sexual orientations.

The interpersonal causes and consequences of depression and anxiety

My research examines the types of interpersonal dysfunction that increase risk for psychopathology and that are consequences of psychopathology, and the types of people who are most vulnerable to both psychopathology and interpersonal dysfunction. My early research on depression developed in response to the field’s focus on simple unidirectional associations between symptoms and interpersonal dysfunction. Building on existing interpersonal models (e.g., Coyne, 1976; Hammen, 1991), I proposed that over time people can become stuck in a vicious cycle of interpersonal distress and depressive symptoms. I demonstrated this among adolescents and adults, documenting ways in which dysphoric people behave that create problems in relationships, which then lead to greater depressive symptoms (Davila, Bradbury, et al., 1997; Davila, Hammen, et al., 1995).

I followed by examining whether there are some people who are more likely than others to be vulnerable to this vicious cycle (see Davila, 2001). For instance, my work has documented how neuroticism strengthens associations between depressive symptoms and marital discord (Davila, Karney, Bradbury, & Hall, 2003). Additionally, in adolescence, a preoccupied interpersonal style, in which people feel dependent on partners and anxious about being rejected, strengthens the association between involvement in a romantic relationship and depressive symptoms (Davila et al., 2004). I’ve recently examined coping strategies, showing that the association between depressive symptoms and involvement in romantic activities in adolescence is weakened when adolescents have emotionally supportive parents (Steinberg & Davila, 2008), but strengthened when adolescents engage in ruminative coping with their friends (Starr & Davila, 2009). Similarly, the association between depressive symptoms and involvement in early sexual activity in adolescence is most strong among adolescents experiencing chronic stress in the parent-adolescent relationship (Davila et al., 2009) and adolescents who are uncomfortable with intimacy in close relationships (Hershenberg & Davila, 2010). By identifying the personality and coping styles that can make people vulnerable to depression and relationship problems, we greatly increase the potential to intervene early with at-risk individuals.

In addition to studying interpersonal aspects of depression, I have examined the close relationships of socially anxious people in collaboration with Gayle Beck. Their relationships are virtually uncharted, and because close relationships are critical for well being, we set out to examine how social anxiety might impair them. Building on my work on depression, we found that socially anxious people behave in ways that have negative consequences for their close relationships (Davila & Beck, 2002). And, unlike traditional conceptualizations of interpersonal impairment in social anxiety, which emphasize avoidance, we demonstrated that socially anxious people engage in both avoidant and dependent styles of relating (Darcy, Davila, & Beck, 2005). In addition, and surprisingly, we also found that socially anxious women in satisfying romantic relationships exhibit the most negative behavior when interacting with partners, perhaps because they feel safe doing so (Beck, Davila, Farrow, & Grant, 2006). Although such safety may allow them to express feelings more openly, it is not clear whether this has positive or negative effects on the relationship in the long run, a question for future research. These findings have important implications for understanding and improving interpersonal functioning among socially anxious people as they suggest that treatment may need to emphasize close relationships as well as non-close ones and dependent as well as avoidant behaviors.

One aspect of my most recent research focuses on the co-occurrence of depression and anxiety. In one set of projects, we examined how anxiety and depressive symptoms may influence one another; for example, how certain aspects of anxiety may increase risk for depressive symptoms (Grant, Beck, Davila, 2007; Grant, Beck, Farrow, & Davila, 2007). We also have begun to examine the shared and unique interpersonal correlates of anxiety and depressive symptoms, showing that family dysfunction is more strongly associated with dysphoria, whereas peer dysfunction is more strongly associated with social anxiety (Starr & Davila, 2008). Most recently, my former student Lisa Starr and I have examined the co-occurrence of anxiety and depressive symptoms on a daily basis among high-risk and clinically anxious individuals, with the goal of identifying temporal sequences and mechanisms of their association. My former student Kate Stroud is conducting a study that examines how anxiety symptoms may affect the ongoing association between stressful life events and depression, which builds upon a meta-analysis that we conducted on how the relationship between stress and depression differs in first onsets versus recurrences (Stroud, Davila, & Moyer, 2008).

I have recently begun to examine depressed and anxious mood in the context of social networking activities, as this is a highly salient and frequently used venue for interpersonal relationships. We are finding that it is not the frequency with which young people engage in social networking that impacts their mood, but rather the quality of their online and texting interactions. Moreover, individuals who ruminate or co-ruminate tend to show stronger associations between negative social networking interactions and depressed and anxious mood.

Risk factors for the development of romantic relationship dysfunction

My work has primarily focused on enduring vulnerability factors (e.g., psychopathology, attachment insecurity) that people bring to romantic relationships that put them at risk for relationship dysfunction. Although research indicates that the interpersonal exchange between partners predicts relationship success, my work suggests that it is people’s individual qualities that affect the types of interpersonal exchange of which they are capable and to which they are vulnerable. For example, when spouses (especially wives) experience depressive symptoms, their ability to both seek and provide social support suffers, and this, leads to greater marital stress (and ultimately greater depressive symptoms; Davila, Bradbury, et al., 1997). Social support processes are critical to marital satisfaction and stability (e.g., Pasch & Bradbury, 1998). My research indicates that reducing depressive symptoms or targeting depressed spouses for support-based interventions may aid in marital success.

My work also has identified how attachment insecurity can impair couple functioning. To the extent that insecurity (i.e., avoidance of intimacy, anxiety about abandonment) is manifested in the experience of high levels of negative affect, spouses show lower levels of marital satisfaction (Davila, Bradbury, & Fincham, 1998). Like depressive symptoms, insecurity also impairs adaptive support behavior. To the extent that spouses feel insecure and view their partner as insecure, their ability to seek and provide support suffers, which results in lower marital satisfaction (Cobb, Davila, & Bradbury, 2001). My most recent research has shown how insecurity, particularly in the form of anxiety about abandonment, impairs people’s ability to seek, take in, and provide support on a day-to-day basis in their romantic relationships (Davila & Kashy, 2009). My former graduate student, Melissa Ramsay Miller, and I have identified another individual factor that impairs support processes. People who lack a clear understanding of their partner and/or the self also show less adaptive support behavior (Ramsay Miller & Davila, 2008). The more we are self-aware and aware of who our partner is, the more we can provide needed support and take in the support that is given to us.

I also have found that attachment insecurity is associated with remaining in an unhappy relationship. Specifically, insecurity, in the form of anxiety about abandonment, is associated with being chronically, unhappily married (Davila & Bradbury, 2001), suggesting that spouses who are anxious about being abandoned are dependent on their spouses and would rather have an unhappy relationship than no relationship. These spouses also have higher levels of depressive symptoms than others, indicating that insecure spouses are at-risk for both negative individual and interpersonal outcomes, a finding that has implications for the prevention and treatment of relationship distress. A similar process exists among dating couples. Couples in which both partners have a poorer understanding of how to serve as an attachment figure (i.e., how to be available for and take care of one’s partner) are more likely to stay together even when unhappy compared to other couples (Davila, Waters, et al., 2007). Given the importance of attachment security to key aspects of romantic functioning, as shown in my work, I have been invited to prepare a number of clinically relevant book chapters (Cobb & Davila, 2007; Davila, 2003; Davila & Ramsay Miller, 2008) and talks (Davila, 2002) designed to inform practitioners about how to conceptualize couple problems from an attachment perspective. Hence, my research on attachment and romantic functioning has the potential for bridging science and practice.

As this research description conveys, a key theme in my work is social support. In line with this, I served as co-editor (with my colleague Kieran Sullivan) on a book published by Oxford University Press, focusing on cutting-edge research on support processes in intimate relationships (Sullivan & Davila, 2010).

In addition to adult romantic relationships, my most recent research focuses on romantic experiences in adolescence, including their development, risk factors for dysfunction, and how what happens in them may ultimately put people at risk for dysfunction in adult relationships. Although much research has examined how couples function, relatively little has examined how and why people get involved in their relationships and how they learn to behave in relationships. These are important issues because partner choices and experiences in relationships have serious implications for psychological and physical health. The guiding framework for my work is that enduring vulnerabilities emerge early and result in maladaptive models of relationships that lead to maladaptive ways of approaching and behaving in relationships. My current work thus focuses on risk factors for the development of romantic dysfunction in adolescents.

As with my work on adults, I have focused on attachment security in adolescent relationships. I have shown how insecurity is associated with poor adolescent romantic functioning (Davila et al., 2004; Davila, Waters, et al., 2007a, 2007b; Steinberg, Davila, & Fincham, 2006), and how, more generally, poor parent-adolescent relationships are as well (Steinberg & Davila, 2008). As noted earlier, I am particularly interested in depression and anxiety in adolescent romantic functioning. I recently published a review of the literature on depression and adolescent romance that sets an agenda for research in the area (Davila, 2008), and my students and I have demonstrated, in a variety of samples, that romantic and sexual experiences in adolescence are associated with depressive symptoms (Davila et al., 2009; Davila et al., 2004; Hershenberg & Davila, 2010; Starr & Davila, 2008; Starr & Davila, 2009; Steinberg & Davila, 2008; Stroud & Davila, 2008; Yoneda & Davila, 2008). This work addresses an important gap in the literature. Depression rates are high among adolescents, and even subclinical symptoms predict episodes in adulthood. Thus, learning more about how and why adolescent romantic and sexual experiences confer risk for depressive symptoms is important. Similarly, learning more about how adolescent depressive symptoms impair romantic and sexual functioning is important. Romantic and sexual experiences are a normative and salient aspect of adolescence. They provide opportunities for necessary socialization (e.g., learning relationship skills, providing chances to develop and practice self- and emotion-regulation skills) as well as potentially stressful challenges with which adolescents must cope. If depressive symptoms impair these processes, adolescents may fail to develop skills that will allow for adaptive relationship functioning in the future. It is my goal to conduct research that can inform interventions that can treat and/or prevent adolescent depression and relationship dysfunction, and my ongoing and future research endeavors will be dedicated to doing so.

In addition, I am interested in examining positive adaptation in adolescent romantic functioning. In line with this, my students and I published a paper outlining our conception of adolescent romantic competence and we have developed an interview to assess it (Davila, Steinberg, et al., 2008). I also am interested in what contributes to positive emotional functioning in adolescence, and have shown that greater parent-adolescent attachment security is associated with adolescent girls’ ability to convey positive emotions about their mothers when they are interacting with them (Hershenberg, Davila, et al., 2011).

I am particularly interested in disseminating information about adolescent romantic functioning and mental health to the public. To this end, I have contributed a chapter on adolescent romantic relationships to a book on “emotional first aid for parents” whose intended audience is parents. I also have presented seminars for parents at local schools, and have provided quotes and interviews for the media. As noted above, I intend to continue to pursue research on adolescent romantic relationships, with the ultimate goal of helping parents, clinicians, and youth develop effective ways to foster healthy adolescent relationships.

For the next phase of my research program on the association between adolescent romantic relationship functioning and mental health, I intend to begin to examine how emotion regulation processes may serve as a mechanism of their association. We are also examining attentional processes in the association between depressed mood and romantic and sexual behavior.

Attachment representations: Stability, change, and associations with interpersonal functioning

As noted throughout, my work on interpersonal factors and psychopathology and on romantic dysfunction has included an emphasis on attachment factors. I have demonstrated how insecurity is associated with poor interpersonal functioning, including relationship dissatisfaction (Davila et al., 1998), remaining in unhappy relationships (Davila & Bradbury, 2001), stronger associations between relationship involvement and depressive symptoms (Davila et al., 2004), stonrger associations between depressive symptoms and early sexual activity (Hershenberg & Davila, 2010), and poorer social support (Cobb et al., 2001; Davila & Kashy, 2009).

I also conduct research that tests basic theoretical questions relevant to the stability of attachment over time (Davila & Cobb, 2003; Davila, Hammen, & Burge, 1997; Davila, Karney, & Bradbury, 1999; Davila & Sargent, 2003). Explaining whether, how, and why people change or stay the same over time is a fundamental issue in psychological research. In the adult attachment literature it is particularly important, as most research has conceptualized adult attachment as fixed trait that affects interpersonal functioning, rather than as a dynamic construct that both assimilates and accommodates new information (as Bowlby originally proposed). My work was among the first to examine change in adult attachment. It has shown that, indeed, attachment can change in adulthood, that this change is psychologically meaningful, and that there are a number of different circumstances under which change is more or less likely to occur.

Specifically, my work has shown that change in consciously held beliefs about security can be a manifestation of unstable/unclear models of self and others (Davila & Cobb, 2003; Davila, Hammen, & Burge, 1997). Additionally, changes in such beliefs also can covary with ongoing changes in one’s interpersonal context, including levels of marital satisfaction (Davila, Karney, & Bradbury, 1999), day-to-day changes in social support (Davila & Kashy, 2009), and the interpersonal meanings that people give to daily events (Davila & Sargent, 2003). Change in broader attachment patterns (that are assessed at non-conscious, behavioral, and emotional levels) are, instead, best explained as adaptations to major interpersonal life changes (Davila & Cobb, 2003). These findings are relevant not only for theory refinement, but in demonstrating the kinds of experiences that are associated with change, they have implications for intervention as well (Cobb & Davila, 2007; Davila & Ramsay Miller, 2008).