Photo of Dr. Deborah Jacobvitz

Phyllis L. Richards Endowed Professor of Child Development

Risk of childhood disorders, attachment and family relationships, evidence-based interventions

Deborah Jacobvitz is Professor of Human Development & Family Sciences at UT Austin. She focuses on the mechanisms through which children’s early family experiences come to influence later health and well-being.  Dr. Jacobvitz has conducted research and published over 80 papers and chapters regarding childhood mental health, the effects of early care and families in adversity. The National Science Foundation funded her Partners and Parenthood Study, a longitudinal study following families over 7 years to examine problematic family interactions and regulatory processes underlying the development of childhood disorders. The Hogg Foundation for Mental Health funded her work on how early experiences shape how we perceive, remember and organize information about ourselves and others to overcome adversity. St. David’s Foundation funded her MAGIC Study (Mothers and other careGivers Investing in Children), an ongoing large intervention project to promote responsive and sensitive feeding to support children’s regulatory capacities, and prevent child obesity. The Hudson Center, the Egg Nutrition Center and the Texas Methodist Foundation have also funded her work.

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