Katherine C. Pears, Ph.D.

Research Scientist
Oregon Social Learning Center

• Kids in Transition to School (KITS): Foster Care Program (PI, NIDA & NICHD)
• Kids in Transition to School (KITS): Early Childhood Special Education Program (PI,IES, U.S. Dept. of Education)
• Dimensions of Early Stress and Child Welfare Involvement (Co-I, NICHD)
• Three Generational Study (Co-I, NIDA & NICHD)

Primary research and clinical interests

Dr. Pears studies a number of early childhood predictors of behavioral and social problems with the goal of developing preventive interventions. Specifically, she is interested in the effects of maltreatment and other early adverse circumstances on children’s social and academic development. She has examined theory of mind and emotion understanding abilities in high-risk and maltreated children and the association of these skills to early adverse experiences. She has also examined the school readiness skills and early school adjustment of high risk children including maltreated children in foster care. Currently, she is the principal investigator on two randomized efficacy trials of a school readiness intervention for two groups of high-risk children: maltreated children in foster care and children with developmental disabilities and co-occurring behavioral or social problems. Additionally, she is co-investigator on a 10-year longitudinal, three generation study examining intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior and substance abuse in a group of high-risk men and their families, and has examined the intergenerational transmission of abusive behaviors in this population.

Selected publications

Pears, K. C., & Fisher, P. A. (2005). Emotion understanding and theory of mind among maltreated children in foster care: Evidence of deficits. Development and Psychopathology, 17, 47-65.

Pears, K. C., & Fisher, P. A. (2005). Developmental, cognitive, and neuropsychological functioning in preschool-aged foster children: Associations with prior maltreatment and placement history. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 26, 112-122.

Fisher, P. A., Burraston, B., & Pears, K. (2005). The Early Intervention Foster Care Program: Permanent placement outcomes from a randomized trial. Child Maltreatment, 10, 61-71.

Pears, K., Pierce, S., Kim, H. K., Capaldi, D. M., & Owen, L. D. (2005). The timing of entry into fatherhood in young, at-risk men. Journal of Marriage and Family, 64, 429-447.

Pears, K.C. & Moses, L. J. (2003). Demographics, parenting, and theory of mind in preschoolers. Social Development, 12(1), 1-20.

Capaldi, D. M., Pears, K. C., Patterson, G. R., & Owen, L. D. (2003). Continuity of parenting practices across generations in an at-risk sample: A prospective comparison of direct and mediated associations. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31(2), 127-142.

Pears, K.C. & Capaldi, D.M. (2001). Intergenerational transmission of abuse: A two-generational prospective study of an at-risk sample. Child Abuse & Neglect, 25, 1439-1461.
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