SESP Faculty

Emma K Adam

Faculty Profile

Emma Adam is a developmental psychologist with an interest in applying theory and research on human development to informing policies and programs aimed at improving the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and young adults. She is an expert in the developmental psychobiology of stress and sleep. Adam studies how everyday experiences in the lives of children, adolescents and young adults impact their stress biology, with implications for emotional health, physical health and academic outcomes. She also examines social influences on sleep in children and adolescents, and the implications of variations in sleep timing and quality for health and performance. Her research projects have examined the role of stress, stress hormones and sleep in the development of mood and anxiety disorders in adolescents and young adults; racial/ethnic disparities in stress and the impact of perceived discrimination on stress hormones, sleep and health; the impact of early adverse relationship experiences on biological stress and health in young adults; and how variations in stress and sleep affect executive functioning and academic performance.  Adam and her collaborators are currently implementing a series of randomized control trial intervention projects designed to reduce stress and or promote positive outcomes in youth, including a meditation intervention, an app-based mindfulness intervention, a mentoring intervention, and an intervention designed to promote positive ethnic identity development in youth.

In addition to her Northwestern University affiliations, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Research in Child Development, the Society for Research on Adolescence, and the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology. She is the recipient of a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Post-doctoral Fellowship (2003–04), a William T. Grant Scholars Award (2004–09), and the Curt Richter Award from the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (2013).  She is President-Elect of the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology (2020-2023).

• Using diary studies to examine how adolescents’ everyday experiences influence their moods, their stress biology, and their sleep.
• The implications of adolescent stress for adolescent and adult mental and physical health and academic outcomes.
• Ethnic/racial and socioeconomic disparities in stress exposure; the implications of “stress disparities” for disparities in health and academic outcomes.
• Secular/historical changes in adolescent stress and mental health, including the impacts of economic decline and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Interventions to reduce adolescent stress exposure and increase coping with stress, including sleep, meditation, mindfulness, mentoring and ethnic-identity promotion interventions.

 Adam Research Lab: COAST 

 Institute for Policy Research Profile

• 2020 – President-Elect, International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology
• 2017 – Lyle Spencer Research Award
• 2013 – Outstanding Professor Award, School of Education and Social Policy
• 2013 – Curt Richter Award, International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology
• 2009 – William T. Grant Scholars Award

Stephens, J.E., Kessler, C.L., Buss, C., Miller, G..E., Grobman, W.A., Border, A.E., Keenan-Devlin, L., Adam, E.K. (2020). Early and current life adversity: Past and present influences on maternal diurnal cortisol rhythms during pregnancy. Developmental Psychobiology. (Download)

Adam, E. K., Hittner, E., Thomas, S., Collier Villaume, S., & Nwafor, E. (2020). Racial Discrimination and Ethnic Racial Identity in Adolescence as Modulators of HPA-Axis Activity. Development and Psychopathology.  (Download)

Adam, E. K., Collier Villaume, S., Thomas, S. E., & Grant, K. (in press). Stress and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity in Adolescence and Young Adulthood. In L. Crockett, G. Carlo, & J. Schulenberg (Eds.), APA Handbook of Adolescent and Young Adult Development: APA.

Leszko, M., Keenan-Devlin, L., Adam, E. A., Buss, C., Grobman, W., Simhan, H., Wadhwa, P., Mroczek, D. K., Borders, A. (2020). Are personality traits associated with smoking and alcohol use prior to and during pregnancy? Plos One. 15(5): e0232668  (Download)

Hittner, E. F., & Adam, E. K. (2020). Emotional Pathways to the Biological Embodiment of Racial Discrimination Experiences. Psychosomatic Medicine, 82(4), 420-431. doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000792.  (Download)

Stoye, D. Q., Andrew, R., Grobman, W. A., Adam, E. K., Wadhwa, P. D., Buss, C., . . . Reynolds, R. M. (2020). Maternal Glucocorticoid Metabolism Across Pregnancy: A Potential Mechanism Underlying Fetal Glucocorticoid Exposure. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 105(3). doi:10.1210/clinem/dgz313.  (Download)

Adam, E. K., Collier Villaume, S., & Hittner, E. (2020). Reducing Stress Disparities: Shining New Light on Pathways to Equity through the Study of Stress Biology. In L. Tach, R. Dunifon, & D. L. Miller (Eds.), Confronting Inequality:  How Policies and Practices Shape Children’s Opportunities. Washington: APA Books.  (Download)

Keenan-Devlin, L. S., Awosemusi, Y. F., Grobman, W., Simhan, H., Adam, E., Culhane, J., . . . Borders, A. E. B. (2019). Early Term Delivery and Breastfeeding Outcomes. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 23(10), 1339-1347. doi:10.1007/s10995-019-02787-4.  (Download)

Mance, G. A., Grant, K. E., Roberts, D., Carter, J., Turek, C., Adam, E., & Thorpe, R. J. (2019). Environmental stress and socioeconomic status: Does parent and adolescent stress influence executive functioning in urban youth? Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 47(4), 279-294. doi:10.1080/10852352.2019.1617386. (Download)

Doane, L. D., Sladek, M. R., & Adam, E. K. (2018). An introduction to cultural neurobiology: Evidence from physiological stress systems. In J. M. Causadias, E. H. Telzer, & N. A. Gonzales (Eds.), The Handbook of Culture and Biology: Bridging Evolutionary Adaptation and Development, pp. 227-254. Hoboken, NJ:  Wiley.  (Download)

Shalowitz, M., Dunkel Schetter, C., Hillemeier, M., Chinchilli, V., Adam, E., Hobel, C., Ramey, S., Vance, M., O’Campo, P., Seeman, T., Raju., T. and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child and Human Development, Community Child Health Network (2019). Cardiovascular and Metabolic Risk in Women in the First Year Postpartum: Allostatic Load as a Function of Race, Ethnicity and Poverty Status, American Journal of Perinatology, 36(10), 1079-1089.  (Download)

Ehrlich, K. B., J. A. Stern, J. Eccles, J. V. Dinh, E. A. Hopper, M. E. Kemeny, E. K. Adam and J. Cassidy (2018). “A preliminary investigation of attachment style and inflammation in African-American young adults.” Attachment & human development, 1-13.  (Download)       

Dulaney, E., Graupmann, V., Grant, K., Adam, E., & Chen, E. (2018).Taking on the stress-depression link: Meaning as a resource in adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 65, 39-49.  (Download)

Levy, D. J., Heissel, J., Richeson, J.A. & Adam, E. K. (2016). Psychological and Biological Responses to Race-Based Social Stress as Pathways to Disparities in Educational Outcomes. American Psychologist.  (Download )

Heissel, J., P. Sharkey, G. Torrats-Espinosa, K. Grant, and E. Adam. (2018). Violence and vigilance: The acute effects of community violent crime on sleep and cortisol. Child Development: 89(4): e323-e331.  (Download)

Gilbert, K., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, R. E., Craske, M. G., Adam, E. K. (2017). Emotion Regulation Regulates More Than Emotion: Associations of Momentary Emotion Regulation With Diurnal Cortisol in Current and Past Depression and Anxiety. Clinical Psychological Science: 37-51. 
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Tavernier, R., Adam, E. K. (2017). Text message intervention improves objective sleep hours among adolescents: the moderating role of race-ethnicity. Sleep Health 3: 62-67. 
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Adam, E. K., Quinn, M. E., Tavernier. R., McQuillan, M. T., Dahlke, K. A., Gilbert, K. E. (2017). Diurnal cortisol slopes and mental and physical health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 83: 25-41.  (Download)

Miller, G. E., Culhane, J., Grobman, W., Simhan, H., Williamson, D. E., Adam, E. K., Buss, C., Entringer, S., Kim, K., Garcia-Espana, J. F., Keenan-Delvin, L., McDade, T. W., Wadhwa, P. D., Borders, A. (2017). Mothers’ childhood hardship forecasts adverse pregnancy outcomes: Role of inflammatory, lifestyle, and psychosocial pathways. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity: 11-19. 
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Heissel, J., D. Levy, and E. Adam (2017). Stress, sleep, and performance on standardized tests: Understudied pathways to the achievement gap. . AERA Open: 3(3): 1–17. (Download)

Tavernier, R., Choo, S. B., Grant, K., & Adam, E. K. (2016). Daily affective experiences predict objective sleep outcomes among adolescents. Journal of Sleep Research, 25: 62-69. 
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Stalder, T., Kirschbaum, C., Kudielka, B. M., Adam, E. K., Pruessner, J. C., Wust, S., Dockray, S., Smyth, N., Evans, P., Hellhammer, D. H., Miller, R., Wetherell, M. A., Lupien, S. J., Clow, A. (2016). Assessment of the cortisol awakening response: Expert consensus guidelines. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 63: 414-432. 
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Ehrlich, K. B., Miller, G. E., Rohleder, N., Adam, E. K. (2016). Trajectories of relationship stress and inflammatory processes in adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 28: 127-138. doi: 10.1017/S0954579415000334. 
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Levy, D. J., Heissel, J. A., Richeson, J. A., Adam, E. K. (2016). Psychological and biological responses to race-based social stress as pathways to disparities in educational outcomes. American Psychologist, 71: 455-473. 
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Guardino, C. M., Schetter, C. D., Saxbe, D. E., Adam, E. K., Ramey, S. L., Shalowitz, M. U. (2016). Diurnal Salivary Cortisol Patterns Prior to Pregnancy Predict Infant Birth Weight. Health Psychology Vol. 35 No. 6: 625-633. 
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Garfield, C. F., Duncan, G., Gutina, A., Rutsohn, J., McDade, T. W., Adam, E. K., Coley, R. L., Chase-Lansdale, L. (2016). Longitudinal study of body mass index in young males and the transition to fatherhood. American Journal of Mens Health Vol. 10(6) : N158-N167. 
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Hoyt, L. T., Zeiders, K. H., Erhlich, K. B., Adam, E. K. (2016). Positive Upshots of Cortisol in Everyday Life. Emotion Vol. 16 No. 4: 431-435. 
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Straub, H., Simon, C., Plunkett, B. A., Endres, L., Adam, E. K., Mckinney, C., Hobel, C. J., Thorp, J. M., Raju, T., Shalowitz, M. (2016). Evidence for a Complex Relationship Among Weight Retention, Cortisol and Breastfeeding in Postpartum Women. Matern Child Health 20: 1375-1383. 
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Simon, C. D., Adam, E. K., Holl, J. L., Wolfe, K. A., Grobman, W. A., Borders, A. E. B. (2016). Prenatal Stress and the Cortisol Awakening Response in African-American and Caucasian Women in the Third Trimester of Pregnancy.Matern Child Health J 20: 2142-2149. 
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Ross, K. H., Miller, G., Culhane, J., Grobman, W., Simhan, H. N., Wadhwa, P. D., Williamson, D., McDade, T., Buss, C., Entringer, S., Adam, E. K., Qadir, S., Keenan-Delvin, L., Leigh, A., Borders, A. (2016). Patterns of peripheral cytokine expression during pregnancy in two cohorts and associations with inflammatory markers in cord blood. American Journal of Reproductive Immunology. 
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Adam, E. K., Heissel, J. A., Zeiders, K. H., Richeson J. A., Brodish, A., Ross, E. C., Ehrlich, K. B., Levy, D. J., Kemeny, M. E., Malanchuk, O., Peck, S., Fuller-Rowell, T. and Eccles, J. (2015). Developmental histories of perceived racial discrimination and diurnal cortisol profiles in adulthood: A 20-year prospective study. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 62: 279-291. 
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DeSantis, A. S., Adam, E. K., Hawkley, L. C., Kudielka, B. M., Cacioppo, J. T. (2015). Racial/ethnic differences in diurnal cortisol rhythms: Are they consistent over time?. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77: 6-15. 
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Frost, A., Hoyt, L. T., Chung, A. L., Adam, E. K. (2015). Daily life with depressive symptoms: Gender differences in adolescents’ everyday emotional experiences. Journal of Adolescence, 43: 132-141. 
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DeSantis, A. S., Adam, E. K., Kuzawa, C. W. (2015). Developmental origins of flatter diurnal cortisol rhythms: Associations of socioeconomic status with cortisol in young adults. American Journal of Human Biology, 27: 458-467. 
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Hoyt, L. T., Craske, M. G., Mineka, S., & Adam, E. K. (2015). Positive and negative affect and arousal: Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with adolescent cortisol diurnal rhythms. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77: 392-401. 
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Zeiders, K., Till-Hoyt, L. T., & Adam, E. K. (2014). Associations between self-reported discrimination and diurnal cortisol rhythms among young adults: The moderating role of racial-ethnic minority status. .Psychoneuroendocrinology, 50: 280-288. 
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Hostinar, C.E., McQuillan, M. T., Mirous, H. J., Grant, K. E., & Adam, E. K. (2014). Cortisol responses to a Group Public Speaking Task for Adolescents: Variations by age, gender, and race. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 50: 155-166. 
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Adam, E. K., Vrshek-Schallhorn, S., Kendall, A., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, Craske, M. G. (2014). Prospective Associations Between the Cortisol Awakening Response and Social Anxiety Disorder Onsets in Older Adolescents and Young Adults Over a Six-Year Follow-up : 2013 Curt Richter Award Winner. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 44: 47-59. 
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Dowd, J., Palermo, T., Chyu, L. & McDade, T (2014). Race/ethnic and socioeconomic differences in stress and immune function in The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Social Science and Medicine, 115: 49-55. 
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Willner, C., Morris, P., Charles McCoy, D., & Adam, E. K. (2014). Diurnal cortisol in youth from risky families: Effects of cumulative risk exposure and variation in the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR).Development and Psychopathology, 26: 999-1019.

Vrshek-Schallhorn, S., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, R. E., Craske, M. G., Griffith, J. W., Sutton, J., Redei, E. E., Wolitzky-Taylor, K., Hammen, C., Adam, E. K. (2014). Refining the candidate environment: Interpersonal stress, the serotonin transporter polymorphism, and gene-environment interactions on major depression. Clinical Psychological Science, 2(3): 235-248. 
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Adam, E. K. (2013). What Are Little Learners Made Of? Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice, and Leptin and TNF-a and Melatonin. Mind, Brain and Education, 7(4): 243-245. 
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Sweet, E., Nandi, A., Adam, E., & McDade, T. (2013). The high price of debt: Household financial debt and its impact on mental and physical health. Social Science & Medicine, 91: 94-100. 
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Papp, L., Pendry, P., Simon, C., & Adam, E. K. (2013). Spouses’ cortisol associations and moderators: Testing physiological synchrony and connectedness in everyday life. Family Process, 54(2). Nominated for the Wiley Prize in Family Studies (Alexis Walker Award): 284-298. 
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Vrshek-Schallhorn, S., Doane, L., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, R., Craske, M., & Adam, E. (2013). The cortisol awakening response predicts major depression: predictive stability over a 4-year follow-up and effect of depression history.Psychological Medicine, 43(03): 483-493. 
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Doane, L.D., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, R. E., Craske, M., Griffith, J. W., & Adam, E. K. (2013). Are flatter diurnal cortisol rhythms associated with major depression and anxiety disorders in late adolescence? The role of life stress and daily negative emotion. Development of Psychopathology, 25 (2013): 629-642. 
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Pendry, P. & Adam, E. K. (2013). Child-related interparental conflict in infancy predicts child cognitive functioning in a nationally representative sample. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 22(4): 502-515. 
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Trawalter, S., E. Adam, P. L. Chase-Lansdale, and J. Richeson (2012). Concerns about appearing prejudiced get under the skin: Stress responses to interracial contact in the moment and across time. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48(3): 682-693.

Trawalter, S., Adam, E. K., Chase-Lansdale, P. L., & Richeson, J. A. (2012). Concerns about appearing prejudiced get under the skin: Stress responses to interracial contact in the moment and across time. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(3): 682-693. 
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Trawalter, S., Chung, V. S., DeSantis, A. S., Simon, C. D., & Adam, E. K. (2012). Physiological stress responses to the 2008 US presidential election: The role of policy preferences and social dominance orientation. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 15(3): 333-345. 
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Hoyt, L. T., Chase-Lansdale, P. L., McDade, T. W., & Adam, E. K. (2012). Positive youth, healthy adults: does positive well-being in adolescence predict better-perceived health and fewer risky health behaviors in young adulthood?.Journal of Adolescent Health, 50(1): 66-73. 
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Adam, E. K. (2012). Emotion-cortisol transactions occur over multiple time scales in development: Implications for research on emotion and development of emotional disorders. In T. A. Dennis, K. A. Buss, & Paul D. Hastings (Eds). Physiological Measures of Emotion from a Developmental Perspective: State of the Science. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 77(2): 17-27. 
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Gunnar, M. R., & Adam, E. K. (2012). The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system and emotion: Current wisdom and future directions. In T. A. Dennis, K. A. Buss, & Paul D. Hastings (Eds). Physiological Measures of Emotion from a Developmental Perspective: State of the Science. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 77(2): 109-119. 
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Adam, E., L. Chyu, L. Hoyt, L. Doane, J. Boisjoly, G. Duncan, L. Chase-Lansdale, and T. McDade (2011). Adverse adolescent relationship histories and young adult health: Cumulative effects of loneliness, low parental support, relationship instability, intimate partner violence and loss. Journal of Adolescent Health 49(3): 278 – 86 (NIHMS 260479). 
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Adam, E., L. T. Hoyt, and D. Granger (2011). Diurnal alpha amylase patterns in adolescents: Associations with puberty and with momentary mood states. Biological Psychology 88: 170 – 73. 
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Ludwig, J., Sanbonmatsu, L., Gennetian, L., Adam, E. K., Duncan, G. K., Katz, L. F., Kessler, R. C., Kling, J. R., Tessler Lindau, S., Whitaker, R. C., McDade, T. (2011). Neighborhoods, Obesity, and Diabetes : A Randomized Social Experiment. New England Journal of Medicine, 365(16): 1509-1519. 
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Adam, E., L. Doane, R. Zinbarg, S. Mineka, M. Craske, and J. Griffith (2010). Prospective prediction of major depressive disorder from diurnal cortisol patterns in late adolescence. Psychoneuroendocrinology 35(6): 921 – 31.
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Adam, E., and M. Kumari (2009). Assessing salivary cortisol in large-scale, epidemiological research.Psychoneuroendocrinology 34(10): 1423 – 36. 
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Adam, E. K., Sutton, J., Doane, L. & Mineka, S. (2008). Incorporating HPA-axis measures into preventative interventions for adolescent depression: Are we there yet?. Development and Psychopathology, 20(3): 975 – 1001. 
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Kudielka, B. M., Hawkley, L. C., Adam, E. K., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007). Compliance with ambulatory saliva sampling in the Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study (CHASRS) and associations with social support. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 34(2): 209 – 216. 
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DeSantis, A., Adam, E. K., Doane L., Mineka, S., Zinbarg, R., Craske, M. (2007). Racial/ethnic differences in cortisol diurnal rhythms in a community sample of adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41: 3 – 13. 
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Pendry, P. & Adam, E. K. (2007). Associations between interparental discord, parenting quality, parent emotion and cortisol levels in adolescent and kindergarten-aged children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31(3): 218-231. 
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Adam, E. K., Snell, E. K. & Pendry, P. (2007). Sleep timing and quantity in ecological and family context: A nationally representative time-diary study. Special Issue on Sleep and Family Processes, Journal of Family Psychology 21(1): 4-19. 
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Snell, E. K., Adam, E. K., & Duncan, G. J. (2007). Sleep and the body mass index and overweight status of children and adolescents. Child Development 78(1): 309-323. 
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Adam, E. K., Klimes-Dougan, B. & Gunnar, M. (2006). Social regulation of stress physiology in infancy, childhood and adulthood: Implications for mental health and education in Coch, D., Dawson, G. & Fischer, K. , Human Behavior and the Developing Brain: Atypical Development Guilford Press. 
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Adam, E. K. (2006). Transactions among trait and state emotion and adolescent diurnal and momentary cortisol activity in naturalistic settings. Psychoneuroendocrinology, Vol 31: 664-679. 
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Adam, Emma (2005). Momentary emotions and physiological stress levels in the everyday lives of working parentsin Schneider, Barbara, Waite, Linda, Being Together, Working Apart: Dual Career Families and the Work-Life Balance (pp. 105-134). Cambridge University Press. 
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Adam, E.K., Gunnar, M.R. & Tanaka, A. (2004). Adult attachment, parent emotion, and observed parenting behavior: Mediator and moderator models. Child Development: 75, 110 – 22. 
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Adam, E. K. (2004). Beyond quality: Parental and residential stability and children’s adjustment. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13 (5): 210-213. 
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Adam, E.K. & Chase-Lansdale, P.L. (2002). Home sweet home(s): Parental separations, residential moves and adjustment in low-income adolescent girls. Developmental Psychology: 38, 792-805. 
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Adam, E.K. & Gunnar, M.R. (2001). Relationship functioning and home and work demands predict individual differences in diurnal cortisol patterns in women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 26: 189-208. 
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