People Involved with Kid's World

Principal Investigator - Liliana Lengua, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Washington

I am a child clinical psychologist interested in prevention and promotion of positive adjustment in children. For many years I have studied children and families in stressful situations, particularly divorce and situations in which there are many stressful experiences and adverse conditions (called "multiple risk" situations). My interest is in understanding how some children develop adjustment problems whereas others seem to adjust well despite difficult experiences. In particular, I am interested in how children respond to their experiences: their thoughts, emotional responses, and how they cope with them. I am also interested in how parents help children respond to such situations. I believe that if we have a better understanding of children's adaptive responses, we can promote positive adjustment in all children.

Graduate Students

Anna Long
My interest in learning more about children started when I worked as a childcare provider while I was in college at Seattle University. There, I was able to see some of what I was learning in my psychology courses operating in real life. Now, as a 7th year PhD student in Child Clinical Psychology, I am interested in finding out more about family factors that might help children develop into healthy individuals in spite of the presence of risk factors. In particular, I have an interest in exploring positive things that parents do such as talking with their children, being supportive, and being involved. I also have an interest in exploring children's behavioral and physiological responses to stressful events. research statement

Anika Trancik
I am an advanced Ph.D. student in the child clinical graduate program at the UW. Before moving to Washington I worked at the University of California, Berkeley. I have extensive experience working with children preschool age and older. One of the research projects I was part of at UC Berkeley looked at how preschool teachers and parents can help children develop problem solving skills and increase their ability to get along with others. The preschool teachers and parents in this project took a violence pervention class and learned skills on how to help children express their emotions without fighting. Currently, I am interested in how physiological responses to stress might be a mechanism by which stress leads to problems in behavioral and emotional regulation. This builds on my previous interest in individual differences in problem solving since poor behavioral and emotional regulation can be an obstacle to using problem solving skills. research statement

Nicki Bush
I am a fifth year child clinical psychology student. I've worked in a variety of prevention contexts with children, adolescents, and families. I am interested in the relationship between children's personalities and their environment, particularly the impact of their neighborhood characteristics on their adjustment. I hope to apply my research findings and clinical experiences to policy that will benefit youth and communities. research statement

Former students