Stacia Bourne

Research Interests

The focus of my work is on the social, emotional, and moral development of youth across the school years, spanning from the end of early childhood through late adolescence (~ages 5 to 18). I study developmental and individual differences in how youth make sense of their emotionally-laden social interactions, such as times they hurt others. How do different types of kids and/or kids of different ages interpret, represent, and understand these experiences?

My overarching aim is to characterize the ways in which kids’ emotions influence how they construct meaning of their experiences. I am also interested in the reverse -- how meaning-making impacts emotions. These relations are likely bidirectional, unfolding and changing over time. Of major interest is the role of two facets of kids' emotional development in the meaning-making process and product. These facets are: (1) the emotional climate and dynamics of children's interpersonal relationships (e.g., warmth, attachment bonds), and (2) children’s enduring affective tendencies and traits (e.g., guilt- and shame-proneness). 

I use narrative, observational, experimental, and psychophysiological methods. Kids’ narratives about their past autobiographical experiences are used as windows into how they make sense of real-life events, including events involving harmdoing and negative emotions.

Opportunities For Students

The Social Development Lab is currently seeking volunteer research assistants. Email me with: GPA in psychology, past and current coursework, and your research and career interests long-term.

Education

Ph.D., University of Utah (Psychology, 2017)
M.S., University of Utah (Psychology, 2013)
Teaching Certificate (K-12 Cross-Categorical Special Education, 2008)
B.A., Seattle University (English Literature, minors Women Studies & Philosophy, 2006)

Selected Publications

Baucom, B.R.W., Baucom, K.J.W., Hogan, J.N., Crenshaw, A.O., Bourne, S., Crowell, S., Georgiou, P., & Goodwin, M. (in press). Cardiovascular reactivity during marital conflict in laboratory and naturalistic settings: Differential associations with relationship and individual functioning across contexts. Family Process. doi:10.1111/famp.12353 

Wainryb, C., Pasupathi, M., Bourne, S., Oldroyd, K. (in press). Stories for all ages: Narrating anger can reduce distress. Developmental Psychology. doi:10.1037/dev0000495 

Pasupathi, M., Wainryb, C., Bourne, S., Posada, R. (2017). Narrative construction of morality in adolescence among typically-developing and violence-exposed youth. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 37(2), 178-198. doi:10.1177/0276236617733826 Download

Recchia, H. E., Wainryb, C., Bourne, S., & Pasupathi, M. (2014). The construction of moral agency in mother–child conversations about helping and hurting across childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 50(1), 34-44. doi:10.1037/a0033492 Download

Recchia, H. E., Wainryb, C., Bourne, S., & Pasupathi, M. (2015). Children's and Adolescents' Accounts of Helping and Hurting Others: Lessons About the Development of Moral Agency. Child Development, 86(3), 864-876. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12349 Download

Pasupathi, M., Wainryb, C., Mansfield, C. D., & Bourne, S. (2016). The feeling of the story: Narrating to regulate anger and sadness. Cognition and Emotion, 1-18. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2015.1127214 Download

Wainryb, C., & Bourne, S. (2016). And I Shot Her: On War, and the Creation of Inequities in the Development of Youths' Moral Capacities. Adv Child Dev Behav. 51, 257-287. doi: 10.1016/bs.acdb.2016.05.003 Download

Perry, N. S., Baucom, K. W., Bourne, S., Butner, J., Crenshaw, A. O., Hogan, J. N., & ... Baucom, B. W. (2017). Graphic Methods for Interpreting Longitudinal Dyadic Patterns From Repeated-Measures Actor–Partner Interdependence Models. Journal Of Family Psychology, doi:10.1037/fam0000293 Download