Faculty Profile​

Jenny Vaydich

Jenny​ Lee Vaydich​

Associate Professor of Psychology​; Chair of Research Psychology and Clinical Psychology

Email: vaydichj@letaoyizs.com
Phone: 206-281-2872
Office: Marston 114


Education: BA, St. Olaf College, 2004; MA, University of Notre Dame, 2008; PhD, University of Notre Dame, 2011. At SPU since 2015.

Dr. Jenny Lee Vaydich is a clinical psychologist whose teaching and research interests are in developmental psychopathology,  bridging clinical and developmental psychology. Her research focuses on emotion socialization within the parent-child relationship and how emotion socialization impacts emotion regulation from a developmental psychopathology framework.

Her research explores parent-child relationships and parental emotion socialization during childhood and adolescence. Much of her work has focused on aggression; however, she has recently begun to explore the influence of parent-child relationships on depression and anxiety. She is also interested in the influence of culture on parental emotion socialization, as well as how parent-child relationships are associated with physiological and neuroendocrine functioning.

Dr. Vaydich teaches both clinical and developmental psychology courses, spanning childhood through adolescence. She also teaches a course focusing on child emotion regulation development.


​Selected publications

Lee, B., & Vaydich, J. L.  (in press). A qualitative study of coping strategies among Korean immigrants in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Psychology.

Vaydich, J. L., Carpenter, T. P., Schwark, J. K., & Molina, L. (2020). Disordered eating: The effects of parental attachment and the mediating role of emotion dysregulation. Journal of American College Health. http://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2020.1846045

Please view Dr. Vaydich’s CV (PDF) for additional publications.

Why I teach at SPU

Jenny Lee Vaydich, associate professor of psychology

“I teach at Seattle Pacific University because we prioritize student learning and training within a caring community. Our students are mentored by dedicated faculty committed to excellence in teaching and research, guiding them through a curriculum that emphasizes a biopsychosocial perspective. Faculty focus on preparing students for their future careers while fostering their personal, professional, and spiritual development. Our clinical psychology program prioritizes diversity and intersectionality, recognizing the importance of individual differences in ethical practice.”