Emotional Availability
The Emotional Availability System also includes EA Zones Evaluation, which has been linked to attachment categories/attachment styles. These papers from the lab are under review and have been validated on three different samples. This has been validated also in relation to other more global, clinically sensitive aspects of parent-child relationships, which can be assessed with the Parent-Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale (PIR-GAS), part of the DC 0-3 system (Espinet et al., 2013).
Following are several of our ongoing projects on this topic:
Childhood Adversity and Human Animal Interaction
We utilize a broadened conceptualization of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), which includes additional family, community, and systemic level adversities, to better understand the impact of childhood adversity on health and well-being in young adults and children. In addition, we will investigate the potential protective role of the human-animal bond in mitigating the effects of early adversity in childhood and early adulthood.
Team:
- Samantha Brown, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
- Paula Yuma, PhD, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
- Helen Holmquist-Johnson, PhD, Director of Human Animal Bond in Colorado (HABIC), School of Social Work
- Kerri Rodriguez, PhD, Postdoctoral fellow, School of Social Work
- Jennifer Harman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
- Michael Lincoln, Applied Developmental Science (HDFS) Doctoral Student
Embodiment: Emotional Availability and Dance in Pregnancy
Our goal is to understand how dance and reflections related to pregnancy and parenting may be helpful to expectant mothers. We invite expectant mothers who are at least 18 years old to participate in a program that may lower negative mood and improve pregnancy and parenting reflections and behaviors. We have an Undergraduate Research Academy, funded through the School of Liberal Arts.
Team:
- Madeline Jazz Harvey, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Students in the Undergraduate Research Academy
- Ann Kralewski Van Denburg, undergraduate student, Honors Program, HDFS
- Abby Allison, undergraduate student, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
- Madelyn Caviness, undergraduate student, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
- Maddy Kling, undergraduate student, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
The “EA Brief”: A single session of parent coaching
We recruit mothers and fathers for a single session of parent coaching that we have developed. Its draw is, in part, due to its simplicity and limited time commitment. We have already collected data on a small community sample of well-adjusted mothers who wanted parenting support. We now focus on a more diverse group of mothers as well as fathers. Students are first trained in a practitioner version of emotional availability evaluation (through the use of the Emotional Availability Practitioner Guide) and then in how to provide parenting feedback and coaching.
Team:
- Marjo Flykt, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Colorado State University and the University of Tampere
- Lia Closson, M.S., Colorado State University, Human Development & Family Studies
- Maren McDonnell, M.S., Colorado State University, Human Development & Family Studies
EA-MD
We are also engaged in collaboration on EA to assess doctor-patient relationships, and this collaboration is with the University of Heidelberg Medical School, as a research project to see if this system can be useful in the medical school admissions process in Germany. We have recently published a paper on how the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales are a measure of compassionate behavior. At present, we don’t have a question that a student can investigate on this topic, but open to student ideas.
Team:
- Sabine Herpertz, M.D., University of Heidelberg Medical School
- Anna Fuchs, Ph.D., University of Heidelberg Medical School
- Benjamin Mayer, M.S., University of Heidelberg Medical School
Example publications on this topic that either our lab or other labs have authored:
Biringen, Z. with the collaboration of Robinson, & Emde. (1998). The Emotional Availability (EA) Scales (2nd and 3rd editions), Boulder, CO.
Biringen, Z. (2008). The Emotional Availability (EA) Scales (4th edition), Boulder, CO.
Biringen, Z., Derscheid, D., Vliegen, N., Closson, L*., & Easterbrooks, A.E. (2014). Emotional availability (EA): Theoretical background, empirical research using the EA Scales, and clinical applications. Developmental Review, 34, 114-167.
Biringen, Z., Closson, L.*, Derr-Moore, A*……Warren, V.*, Lucas-Thompson, R., Harman, J.J., & Neu, M. (2015). Mindfulness, emotional availability, and emotional attachment: Three pillars of daily practice, Zero to Three Journal, 20-26.
Espinet, S.D., Jeong, J.J., Motz, M., Racine, N., Major, D., & Pepler, D. (2013). Multimodal assessment of the mother-child relationship in a substance-exposed sample: Divergent associations with the Emotional Availability Scales. Infant Mental Health Journal.
Lotzin, Lu, Kriston, Schiborr, Musal, Romer, Ramsauerwith (2015), Observational Tools for Measuring Parent–Infant Interaction: A Systematic Review, Clinical Child & Family Psychology Review, 18, 99–132.
McDonnell, M.* (2017). Testing the Efficacy of the “EA Brief”: An Intervention to Improve Emotional Attachment and Emotional Availability (EA). Unpublished masters thesis, Colorado State University.
Biringen, Z., Fuchs, A., Herpertz, S., & Biringen, E.K. (in press). Compassion in a doctor-patient relationship: Objectively measuring compassionate behavior using the Emotional Availability (EA) Scales. Integrative and Complementary Medicine.