Elaine Scharfe
Associate Professor and Dean of Arts & Science - Social Sciences

Research interests:

Influence of relationships on health

Social and emotional development across the life-span

Parent-child relationships

Family relationships

My research interests include the exploration of stability and change of attachment representations across the

life-span, and individual differences in mechanisms of continuity of attachment representations.  John Bowlby

(1969/1982) defined attachment as the instinct to form relational bonds with others and the development of

strategies to seek and maintain proximity to these attachment figures when distressed, ill, or afraid.  These

strategies are internalized into representations or internal working models that help to guide interpretation

of and reactions to social situations from infancy to old age.  Although attachment representations are proposed

to be relatively stable, a key challenge to attachment researchers is to identify conditions under which

attachment patterns are likely to change.  I am currently exploring mechanisms of continuity and change in

the context of life transitions (e.g., school transitions, transition to parenthood, illness experiences).  In addition,

I am interested in the influence of attachment behaviours on ways of coping with stress during transitions,

health outcomes during transitions, and cognitive reappraisals of attachment representations during transitions.

Teaching

Selected publications

Scharfe, E. (in press). Cause or consequence?: Exploring causal links between attachment and depression.

   Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

Scharfe, E., & Cole, V. (2006). Stability and change of attachment representations during emerging adulthood:

    An examination of mediators and moderators of change. Personal Relationships, 13, 363-374.

Scharfe, E. (2003).  Stability and change of attachment representations from cradle to grave. To appear in S. M. 

    Johnson & V. Whiffen, Attachment processes in couple and family therapy, New York, NY: Guilford Publications Inc.

Scharfe, E. (2002) . Reliability and validity of an interview assessment of attachment representations in a clinical

   sample of adolescents,  Journal of Adolescent Research, 17, 532-551.

Scharfe, E. & Eldredge, D. (2001). Associations between attachment representations and health behaviors in late

   adolescence. Journal of Health Psychology, 6, 287-299.

Scharfe, E. & Bartholomew, K. (1998). Do you remember?: Recollections of adult attachment patterns. Personal

   Relationships, 5, 219-234.

Scharfe, E. & Bartholomew, K. (1994). Reliability and stability of adult attachment patterns. Personal

   Relationships, 1, 23-43.