David S. DeGarmo, Ph.D.

Research Scientist
Oregon Social Learning Center

•Center for Drug Abuse Prevention in the Chile Welfare System (Co-I, NIDA)
• Adolescent Latino Acculturation Study (Co-I, NIDA)
• Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (Co-I, NIMH)
• Parental Repartnering After Divorce (Co-I, NIMH)

Primary research and clinical interests

Dr. DeGarmo investigates how families adjust to stressful life events and harsh and socially disadvantaged contexts. A majority of his research has focused on how parents and children adjust to divorce and remarriage following divorce, and how parent-training interventions can promote health adjustment for these families. A substantive focus is on social interactional processes within the family and between family members and their social networks. More broadly, his theoretical interests are the linkages between individual and contextual moderators of behavior including social support, role-identities, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. He is currently working on a 4-year study focusing on social support and adjustment processes for divorced fathers, adjustment of a participating child, and impact of fathers’ support confidants. The study was designed to be representative of the county sampling frame including fathers with and without custody of their children, an understudied population. He received his doctorate at The University of Akron in family sociology and subsequently served as a postdoctoral fellow of the National Institute of Mental Health Family Research Consortium focusing on Risk and Resilience.

Selected publications

DeGarmo, D. S. (2010). A time varying evaluation of identity theory and father involvement for full custody, shared custody, and no custody divorced fathers. Fathering, 8(2), 181-202.   

DeGarmo, D. S. (2010). Coercive and prosocial fathering, antisocial personality, and growth in children’s post-divorce noncompliance. Child Development, 81, 503-516.

DeGarmo, D. S., Reid, J. B., Leve, L. D., Chamberlain, P., & Knutson, J. F. (2010). Patterns and predictors of growth in divorced fathers' health status and substance use. American Journal of Men's Health, 4(1), 60-70.

DeGarmo, D. S., Patras, J., & Eap, S. (2008). Social support for divorced fathers' parenting: Testing a stress buffering model. Family Relations, 57(January), 35-48.

DeGarmo, D. S., & Forgatch, M. S. (2007). Efficacy of parent training for stepfathers: From playful spectator and polite stranger to effective stepfathering. Parenting: Science and Practice, 7(4), 331-355.

Forgatch, M. S., & DeGarmo, D. S. (2007). Accelerating recovery from poverty: Prevention effects for recently separated mothers. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention. 4(4), 681-702.

DeGarmo, D. S., & Forgatch, M. S. (2005). Early development of delinquency within divorced families: Evaluating a randomized preventive intervention trial. Developmental Science, 8(3), 229-239.

DeGarmo, D. S., Patterson, G. R., & Forgatch, M. S. (2004). How do outcomes in a specified parent training intervention maintain or wane over time? Prevention Science, 5, 73-89.

DeGarmo, D. S. & Forgatch, M. S. (2002). Identity salience as a moderator of psychological distress within stepfamilies: Parental, spousal, and employment domains. Social Psychology Quarterly, 65(3), 266-284.