Ashley Groh
Associate Professor
204B McAlester Hall
groha@missouri.edu
Faculty
Lab Information
408 Noyes Hall
About the Lab

Research conducted in my lab focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms of the legacy of children's early experiences with parents for social and emotional development across the life course.

Research Interests

Dr. Groh's research applies a biopsychosocial perspective to investigating the developmental origins and significance of children’s early relationships with parents for socioemotional development across the lifespan. Her research interests lie at the intersection of social, emotional, and biological processes in development. As such, her research is multi-method in nature, including interview and self-report measures of representations of early experiences, observational assessments of family processes, and biological measures of autonomic physiological activity (e.g., electrodermal reactivity, heart rate) and brain activity (e.g., EEG/ERP). In addition, Dr. Groh uses a multi-faceted approach to addressing developmental research questions, leveraging meta-analytic, longitudinal, and experimental methods.

***I will be considering graduate student applications for the upcoming academic year. Students would primarily be involved in working on an NSF funded study examining women's neural adaptation to motherhood as a function of psychological risk (insecure attachment, depression) and in relation to mother-child outcomes. Interested candidates may email me to discuss their research interests and graduate school goals. ***

Selected Publications

Relevant Journal Articles:

Indicates graduate student co-author; ^Indicates undergraduate student co-author

1. Groh, A. M., & Roisman, G. I. (2009). Adults’ autonomic and subjective emotional responses to infant vocalizations: The role of secure base script knowledge. Developmental Psychology, 45, 889-893.

2. Groh, A. M., Roisman, G. I., van IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Fearon, R. P. (2012). The significance of insecure and disorganized attachment for children’s internalizing symptoms: A meta-analytic study. Child Development, 83, 591-610.

3. Roisman, G. I., Booth-LaForce, C., Belsky, J., Burt, K. B., & Groh, A. M. (2013). Molecular-genetic correlates of infant attachment: A cautionary tale. Attachment & Human Development, 15, 384-406.

4. Groh, A. M., Fearon, R. P., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Steele, R. D., & Roisman, G. I. (2014). The significance of attachment security for children’s social competence with peers: A meta-analytic study. Attachment & Human Development, 16, 103-136.

5. Groh, A. M., Roisman, G. I., Booth-LaForce, C., Fraley, R. C., Owen, M. T., Cox, M. J., & Burchinal, M. R. (2014). Stability of attachment security from infancy to late adolescence. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 79, 51-66.

6. Booth-LaForce, C., Groh, A. M., Burchinal, M. R., Roisman, G. I., Owen, M. T., & Cox, M. (2014). Caregiving and contextual sources of continuity and change in attachment security from infancy to late adolescence. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 79, 67-84.

7. Groh, A. M., Roisman, G. I., Haydon, K. C., Bost, K., McElwain, N., ^Garcia, L., & ^Hester, C., (2015). Mothers’ electrophysiological, subjective, and observed emotional responses to infant crying: The role of secure base script knowledge. Development and Psychopathology, 27, 1237-1250.

8. Waters, T. E. A., Fraley, R. C., Groh, A. M., Steele, R. D., Vaughn, B. E., Bost, K. K., Veríssimo, M., Coppola, G., & Roisman, G. I. (2015). The latent structure of secure base script knowledge. Developmental Psychology, 51, 823-830. doi: 10.1037/dev0000012

9. Groh, A. M., Narayan, A., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Roisman, G. I., Vaughn, B., Fearon, R. P., & Van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2017). Attachment and temperament in the early life course: A meta-analytic review. Child Development, 88, 770-795. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12677

10. Groh, A. M., Fearon, R. P., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., & Roisman, G. I. (2017). Attachment in the early life course: Meta-analytic evidence for its role in socioemotional development. Child Development Perspectives, 11, 70-76. 

11. Groh, A. M., & Haydon, K. C. (2018). Mothers’ neural and behavioral responses to their infants’ distress cues: The role of secure base script knowledge. Psychological Science, 29, 242-253. 

12. †Jin, K., ^Houston, J. L., Baillargeon, R., Groh, A. M., & Roisman, G. I. (2018). Young infants expect an unfamiliar adult to comfort a crying baby: Evidence from a standard violation-of-expectation talk and a novel infant-triggered-video task. Cognitive Psychology, 102, 1-20. 
 

13. Groh, A. M., Propper, C., Mills-Koonce, R., Moore, G., Calkins, S., & Cox, M. (2019). Mothers’ physiological and affective responding to infant distress: Unique antecedents of avoidant and resistant attachments. Child Development, 90, 489-505. 

14. Groh, A. M., & Narayan, A. (2019). Infant attachment insecurity and baseline physiological activity and physiological reactivity to interpersonal stress: A meta-analytic review. Child Development, 90, 679-693. 

15. Xu, N., & Groh, A. M. (2021). The significance of mothers' attachment representations for vagal responding during interactions with infants. Attachment & Human Development. 

16. Forslund, T., … Groh, A. M., … & Duschinsky, R. (2021). Attachment goes to court: Child protection and custody issues. Attachment & Human Development, 24, 1-52. 

​​​​​​​17. Deneault, A., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M., Groh, A. M., Fearon, R. M. P., & Madigan, S. (2021). Child-father attachment in early childhood and behavior problems: A meta-analysis. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2021, 43-66.

18. Dagan, O., Groh, A. M., Madigan, S., & Bernard, K. (2021). A lifespan development theory of insecure attachment and internalizing symptoms: Integrating meta-analytic evidence via a testable evolutionary mis/match hypothesis. Brain Sciences, 11, 1226.

19. †Borowski, S., Groh, A. M., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., Fearon, R. M. P., Roisman, G. I., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Vaughn, B. (2021). The significance of early temperamental reactivity for children’s social competence with peers: A meta-analytic review and comparison with the role of early attachment. Psychological Bulletin, 147, 1125-1158. 

20. Rutherford, H. J. V., Bunderson, M., Bartz, C., Haitsuka, H., Meins, E., Groh, A. M., & Milligan, K. (2021). Imagining the baby: Neural reactivity to infant distress and mind-mindedness in expectant parents. Biological Psychology, 161, 108057.

 

Lab Area