Staff

Education

My program of research takes a biopsychosocial perspective on understanding health and well-being in the context of family and peer relationships. I am interested in how nature and nurture intersect – how early experiences shape the development of emotion regulation, stress responding, and social perception, and how these phenomena influence subsequent psychosocial functioning. Much of my research incorporates cortisol, a hormone secreted by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis that reflects bodily adaptation to acute and chronic stress. However, I have pursued additional training in neuroimaging at USC and am now conducting an fMRI study of adolescents' perceptions of parents and peers. Here is an article about this study: https://postdocs.usc.edu/featured-postdocs/featured-postdocs-darby-saxbe/

Journal Article
Saxbe, D. E., Margolin, G., Spies, L. A., Baucom, B. (2012). Does Dampened Physiological Reactivity Protect Youth in Aggressive Family Environments?. Child Development. Vol. 83, pp. 821-830.
Saxbe, D. E., Repetti, R. L. (2010). For Better or Worse? Coregulation of Couples’ Cortisol Levels and Mood States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Vol. 98 (92-103)
Saxbe, D. E., Repetti, R. L. (2010). No Place Like Home: Home Tours Predict Daily Patterns of Mood and Cortisol. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Vol. 36 (71-81)
Saxbe, D. E., Repetti, R. L. (2009). Fathers’ and Mothers’ Marital Relationship Predicts Daughters’ Pubertal Development Two Years Later. Journal of Adolescence. Vol. 32 (415-423)
Saxbe, D. E. (2008). A field (researcher’s) guide to cortisol: Tracking the HPA axis in everyday life. Health Psychology Review. Vol. 2 (163-190)
Saxbe, D. E., Repetti, R. L., Nishina, A. (2008). Marital Satisfaction, Recovery from Work, and Diurnal Cortisol Among Men and Women. Health Psychology. Vol. 27 (15-25)