Sara Bufferd, PhD

Associate Professor

Sara Bufferd, Ph.D. (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville. Previously, Dr. Bufferd was Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University San Marcos. Dr Bufferd’s research focuses on the assessment and predictors of early-emerging psychopathology and characterizing the spectrum of normative to pathological emotional development in early childhood relevant to risk for anxiety and mood dysregulation. Please visit our lab website (www.UofLCAMlab.com) for more information.

Education

• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Stony Brook University, 2012
• B.S., Human Development, Cornell University, 2003

Research Interests

• Assessment of psychopathology and temperament in young children
• Individual, familial, and contextual correlates and predictors of child anxiety and mood dysregulation
• Characterizing the spectrum of early-emerging internalizing behavior

My research interests lie within a developmental psychopathology framework. I investigate factors that contribute to the onset and course of emotional and behavioral problems in young children, including temperament, psychosocial functioning, stressors, parenting behavior, and physiology. I am particularly interested in mapping the spectrum of normative to pathological psychological development of anxiety and mood dysregulation in preschool-aged children. Measures used in the lab include daily diaries, diagnostic interviews, structured laboratory observations with children and parents, psychophysiological assessment, and parent- and teacher-report questionnaires. We will also be starting a new project soon using sleep actigraphy. Please see here for more information.

Representative Publications

Bufferd, S. J., Olino, T. M., & Dougherty, L. R. (2023). Quantifying severity of preschool-aged children’s internalizing behaviors: A daily diary analysis. Assessment, 30, 190-209.

Chad-Friedman, E., Leppert, K. A., Olino, T. M., Bufferd, S. J., & Dougherty, L. R. (2022). Affective dynamics and mean levels of preschool irritability and sadness: Predictors of children’s psychological functioning two years later. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 53, 244-255

Bufferd, S. J., Levinson, C. A., Olino, T. M., Dougherty, L. R., Dyson, M. W., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N.
(2022). Temperament and psychopathology in early childhood predict body dissatisfaction and eating disorder
symptoms in adolescence. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 104039.

Finsaas, M., Kessel, E., Dougherty, L., Bufferd, S. J., Danzig, A., Davila, J., Carlson, G., & Klein, D. (2020). Early childhood psychopathology prospectively predicts social functioning in early adolescence. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 49, 353-364.

Leppert, K. A., Bufferd, S. J., Olino, T. M., & Dougherty, L. R. (2019). A daily diary analysis of preschool depressive behaviors: Prospective associations and moderators across 14 days. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47, 1547-1558.

Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., & Olino, T. M. (2019). Mapping the frequency and severity of anxiety in preschool-aged children. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 63, 9-17.

Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Olino, T. M., Dyson, M. W., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2018). Temperament distinguishes persistent/recurrent from remitting anxiety disorders across early childhood. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 47, 1004-1013.

Finsaas, M. C., Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2018). Preschool psychiatric disorders: homotypic and heterotypic continuity through middle childhood and early adolescence. Psychological Medicine, 48, 2159-2168.

Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., & Olino, T. M. (2017). Mapping the frequency and severity of depressive behaviors in preschool-aged children. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 48, 934–943.

Parisette-Sparks, A., Bufferd, S. J., & Klein, D. N. (2017). Parental predictors of children’s shame and guilt at age 6 in a multi-method, longitudinal study. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 46, 721-731.

Barrios, C. S., Bufferd, S. J., Klein, D. N., & Dougherty, L. R. (2017). The interaction between parenting and children’s cortisol reactivity at age three predicts increases in children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age six. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 1319-1331.

Bufferd, S. J., Dyson, M. W., Hernandez, I. G., & Wakschlag, L. S. (2016). Explicating the “developmental” in preschool psychopathology. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), Developmental Psychopathology, Third Edition (pp. 152-186). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Olino, T. M., Dyson, M.W., Laptook, R. S., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2014). Predictors of the onset of depression in young children: A multi-method, multi-informant longitudinal study from ages 3 to 6. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55, 1279-1287.

Dougherty, L. R., Smith, V. C., Bufferd, S. J., Stringaris, A., Leibenluft, E., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2013). Preschool irritability: Longitudinal associations with psychiatric disorders at age six and parental psychopathology. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 52, 1304-1313.

Dougherty, L. R., Tolep, M. R., Bufferd, S. J., Olino, T. M., Dyson, M. W., Traditi, J., Rose, S.A., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2013). Preschool anxiety disorders: Comprehensive assessment of clinical, demographic, temperamental, familial, and life stress correlates. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 42, 577-589.

Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Carlson, G. A., Rose, S. R., & Klein, D. N. (2012). Preschool psychopathology: Continuity from age 3 to 6. American Journal of Psychiatry, 169, 1157-1164.

Bufferd, S. J., Dougherty, L. R., Carlson, G. A., & Klein, D. N. (2011). Parent-reported mental health in preschoolers: Findings using a diagnostic interview. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 52, 359-369.

Dougherty, L. R., Bufferd, S. J., Carlson, G. A., Dyson, M. W., Olino, T. M., & Klein, D. N. (2011). Preschoolers' observed temperament and psychiatric disorders assessed with a parent diagnostic interview. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40, 295-306.

Klein, D. N., Kotov, R., & Bufferd, S. J. (2011). Personality and depression. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7, 5.1-5.27.