Erika Lawrence
Director of Translational Science at The Family Institute
Research Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University
Education
Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA
B.A. in Psychology from Emory University
Academic Bio
Dr. Erika Lawrence is the Director of Translational Science at The Family Institute and a Research Professor in the Psychology Department at Northwestern University. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Emory University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at UCLA. Her past academic positions include tenure-track and tenured professorships at the University of Iowa and the University of Arizona prior to joining The Family Institute. Her work has been funded by the DOJ, NIMH, NICHD and the CDC.
In collaboration with a strong team of graduate and undergraduate research assistants, including Amie Zarling, she adapted Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in a group format to successfully treat domestic violence. She and her lab were pioneers in the field in applying and adapting this treatment model to this pervasive and destructive social problem. Effectiveness studies have shown that ACTV reduces recidivism by 1/3 to1/2 compared to the “gold standard” IPV interventions offered in corrections. Dr. Lawrence is currently completing the 4th comparative effectiveness trial with ACTV. She and her team have implemented it in multiple states, maintaining its effectiveness at reducing IPV when working with a variety of agencies and communities.
Dr. Lawrence received the Distinguished Contribution to Family Psychology Award from APA’s Society for Couple and Family Psychology (Division 43) for this work. The Pew Institute also honored her intervention ACTV as the only IPV intervention that was both empirically effective and cost-effective, and it was featured on NPR Marketplace as an example of a program that is both effective at reducing target behavior and cost-effective.
Dr. Lawrence also developed the Relationship Quality Interview (RQI), the first fully psychometrically validated interview, in which she operationalized relationship concepts in a flexible manner that allows the field to explore constructs such as conflict, support, intimacy, sex and respect in a more nuanced manner than is typical in self-report or behavioral observation. The interview allows clinicians to address these constructs in a richer way by collecting multiple examples of the different domains across six months, so that is it less of a “snapshot” of couple interaction and more of a multi-dimensional tapestry.
Dr. Lawrence considers one of her greatest contributions to be her commitment to mentoring future family psychologists, both through her own students and in her interactions with junior faculty and post-doctoral associates, thus ensuring the continuity and quality of couple and family psychology. She has pursued this goal through service to our field, serving as VP of Science for APA’s Division 43: Society for Couple and Family Psychology for two terms, and then as President of this Society. She also has served as a Co-President of the ABCT Couple Research and Therapy Special Interest Group.
Other Professional Involvement/Leadership Positions
Special Appointments
  • National Partnership to End Interpersonal Violence (NPEIV) : Steering Committee for the NPEIV 2010 Conference , Co-Chair, Research Task Force, 2008-2010
  • APA Board of Scientific Affairs, representative for the Society for Family Psychology, 2007- 2011
  • Think Tank on Violence and Abuse in Relationships: Connecting Agendas and Forging New Directions, Presidential Initiative by Alan Kazdin, American Psychological Association, 2008
  • Co-Chair Incorporating Couple and Family Processes into the DSM Committee; co-sponsored by ABCT Couples Research & Therapy Group and APA Society for Family Psychology; multi-disciplinary organization
National Offices Held
  • American Psychological Association Division 43 (Society for Couple and Family Psychology): President-Elect, President, Past-President (2013-2015); Executive Committee: Vice President for Science, 2007-2011)
  • Society for the Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP; APA Division 12, Section 3): Newsletter Editor, 2009-2012
  • ABCT Couples Research and Therapy Special Interest Group: Co- President, 2003-2005; Treasurer, 2000-2002; Chair, Student Research Award Committee, 2002-2003, 2007–2009
Past and Present Editorial Board Appointments
  • Journal of Family Psychology
  • Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
  • Partner Abuse
  • Family Process
Selected Publications & Presentations

O’Hara, K.L., Duschschere, J.E., Shanholtz, C.E., Reznik, S.J., Beck, C.J., & Lawrence, E. (2019). Multidisciplinary Partnership: Targeting aggression and mental health problems of adolescents in detention. American Psychologist, 74, 329-342. doi:10.1037/amp0000439

Lawrence, E., Mazurek, C., & Reardon, K. (2021). Comparing recidivism rates among domestically violent men enrolled in ACTV versus Duluth/CBT. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 89(5), 469-475. doi:10.1037/ccp0000649

Duchschere, J.E., O’Hara, K.L., Reznik, S.J., Shanholtz, C.E., Gerson, N., Beck, C.J., & Lawrence, E. (2022). Addressing a mental health intervention gap in juvenile detention: A pilot study. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 8(2), 236-251. doi:10.1080/23794925.2022.2042873

Fivecoat, H. C., Mazurek, C., Cunningham, C. N., Gandhi, K., Driscoll, M. W., Reischer, H. N., Hendershot, Q. E., Kritzik, R., & Lawrence, E. (2022). It’s not us, it’s COVID: Individual and relational stress among Latine couples early in the pandemic. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 13(1), 50-66. doi:0.1037/cfp0000222

Manvelian, A., Fivecoat, H., Milek, A., & Lawrence, E. (2021). Ending the silo effect: A test of the relational spillover model. Family Process, 61(3), 1229-1247. doi:10.1111/famp.12728

Awards
Distinguished Contribution to Family Psychology Award, APA Division 43
Association for Psychological Science (APS) Fellow
APA Division 43 Distinguished Service Award
APA Fellow, Division 43, Society for Family Psychology
Federal Grant Awarded for Domestic Violence Intervention Research
How to set healthy boundaries in a relationship
Dr. Erika Lawrence quoted on newlyweds’ depression
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