PMBC Clinical Scholar Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine Email: dietzlj@upmc.edu Phone: 412-246-5595 Fax: 412-246-5344 Research Program Dr. Dietz’s research interests focus on the relationship between interpersonal stress and depression in children, and the development of family based psychosocial treatments for depressed and anxious preadolescents. Her primary aim at this time is to explore changes in depressed children’s stress-reactivity after a course of psychosocial treatment.  Under the mentorship of Drs. Jill Cyranowski and Karen Matthews, she will obtain additional training in biosocial models of stress vulnerability and methods of assessing stress response in the cardiovascular, limbic (e.g., HPA axis), and sympathetic nervous systems of children. During her tenure as a PMBC Clinical Scholar, Dr. Dietz will conduct pilot studies utilizing these models and methodology to (1) collect cardiovascular and HPA indices of stress-reactivity in a sample of children seeking outpatient treatment for depression,

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(2) assess changes in children’s stress-reactivity after they complete a course of psychosocial treatment, and (3) conduct exploratory analyses of stress-reactivity and treatment outcomes in depressed children that may inform mediator or moderator hypotheses for a future R01 proposal. Representative Publications Dietz LJ, Jennings KD, Abrew AJ.  Social skill in noncompliance strategies of toddlers with depressed and nondepressed mothers.  J Genet Psychol 166:94-116, 2005. Jennings KD, Dietz, LJ.  Stress of parenting.  In G. Fink (Ed), Encyclopedia of Stress, 2nd Edition.  San Diego:  Elsevier, Inc., 2007. Dietz LJ, Jennings KD, Kelley SA, Marshal M. Maternal depression, family risk factors and toddlers’ behavior problems.  Manuscript under review, 2007. Dietz LJ, Mufson L, Irvine H, Brent DA.  Family based Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for depressed preadolescents: An open treatment trial.  Manuscript under review, 2007. Wroble Biglan MC, Dietz LJ, Pienkosky TV.  Prediction of infant temperament from physiological and psychological measures of maternal stress during and after pregnancy. Manuscript under review, 2007.

Revised 10/1/2007  la/tc