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Alexandra Tabachnick

Assistant Professor of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University
Chapter Member: Chicagoland SSN
Areas of Expertise:

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About Alexandra

Dr. Tabachnick's research takes a two-generation approach (focusing on both parent and child functioning) to understand and enhance family well-being through prevention and intervention, particularly with marginalized and oppressed populations. She is particularly interested in sensitive and responsive parenting and secure attachment as protective factors in child development.

Contributions

What Mental Health Professionals Need to Know to Protect Their Patients and Themselves in the Post-Dobbs Era

  • Christine C. Call
  • Irene Tung
  • Stefanie L. Sequeira
  • Orma Ravindranath
  • Cassandra Boness
  • Debora Bell

Publications

"Combatting the Conspiracy of Silence: Clinician Recommendations for Talking About Racism-Related Events With Youth of Color" (with Cassandra Boness, Molly Bowdring, Chardée A. Galán, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, Nabila Jamal-Orozco, Stefanie L. Sequeira, Irene Tung, Derek M. Novacek, Isabella Kahhale, and Beza M. Bekele). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2021).

Discusses key clinician recommendations for talking about racism and racism-related events with youth of color.

"Secure Attachment in Infancy Predicts Context-Dependent Emotion Expression in Middle Childhood" (with Yunqi He, Lindsay Zajac, Elizabeth A. Carlson, and Mary Dozier). Emotion 22, no. 2 (2022): 258–269.

Explores how secure attachment in infancy relates to emotional functioning in middle childhood, focusing on children at risk for emotion dysregulation due to Child Protective Services involvement. Results indicate that secure attachment to parents in infancy predicts more appropriate emotion expression in middle childhood. Highlights attachment as a promising intervention target for children at risk for emotion dysregulation.

"Effects of an Attachment-Based Intervention in Infancy on Children’s Autonomic Regulation During Middle Childhood" (with K. Lee Raby, Alison Goldstein, Lindsay Zajac, and Mary Doziera). Biological Psychology 143 (2019): 22-31.

Examines the effects of an attachment-based intervention in infancy on children’s autonomic regulation during middle childhood. Finds that an early intervention delivered in infancy, Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up, improved children's physiological regulation in middle childhood. Suggests that a parenting-focused intervention can positively influence children’s autonomic regulation.