Prof. Dr. Sarah Bergmann
Assistant Professor
Child and Adolescent Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
IPU Berlin
Stromstr. 3b, 1st Floor, Room 1.04
10557 Berlin
+49(0)30 300 117 785
E-Mail: sarah.bergmann@ipu-berlin.de
Office hours during the lecture period: Mondays 3:00–4:00 p.m. Please register in advance by email.
It is also possible to arrange an individual appointment. Please register by email.
My teaching focuses on mental disorders in childhood and adolescence. The aim is to familiarise students with the manifestations of mental disorders at different stages of development from infancy and toddlerhood through childhood to adolescence, to discuss models and theories of development, and to teach therapeutic approaches. Special features in the treatment of children and adolescents are emphasised. Gaps in research and further questions, including implications for clinical practice, are also discussed.
to come ...
Research Profile (ORCID)
Sarah Bergmann https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4909-1996
Works (26)
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Editorial. Depression im Kindes- und Jugendalter
Source: Sarah Bergmann
“The Hurrier I Go, the Behinder I Get”: Psychoanalytic Focal Therapy in Early Childhood
Contributors
- Lars O. White
- Kai von Klitzing
- Sarah Bergmann (0009-0006-4909-1996)
- Franziska Schlensog-Schuster
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Lost Narratives: Identifying Predictors of Attrition and Differences in Recruitment Effort in a Longitudinal Study on Child Maltreatment
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- Jan Keil (Author, 0000-0002-5001-0659)
- Josephine Breuer (Author)
- Romy Küchler (Author)
- Angelika J. Bracher (Author, 0000-0002-3989-7244)
- Charlotte C. Schulz (Author, 0000-0002-1082-4877)
- Dorukhan Açıl (Author, 0009-0005-4986-4154)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author, 0009-0006-4909-1996)
- Nina Alexander (Author)
- Tobias Stalder (Author)
- Robert Miller (Author, 0000-0002-8665-5248)
- Maria Licata-Dandel (Author, 0000-0001-9898-0489)
- Volker Mall (Author)
- Michaela Augustin (Author, 0000-0003-3279-2316)
- Anne Sophie Wenzel (Author, 0009-0003-2698-460X)
- Georg von Polier (Author)
- Daniel Radeloff (Author, 0000-0002-8430-8306)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author, 0000-0003-3010-5121)
- Lars O. White (Author, 0000-0001-7185-9929)
Description
<jats:p> Longitudinal research on the adverse consequences of childhood maltreatment has recently gained significant traction. However, systematic attrition, partly due to specific subsample recruitment needs, threatens the validity of this research. Furthermore, studies specifically analyzing these factors in the field of maltreatment research remain scarce. We utilized data from a longitudinal study comprising <jats:italic toggle="yes">N</jats:italic> = 863 participants ( <jats:italic toggle="yes"> M <jats:sub>Age</jats:sub> </jats:italic> = 10.23 years, 47.5% female) and their caregivers at T1, and 616 participants ( <jats:italic toggle="yes"> M <jats:sub>Age</jats:sub> </jats:italic> = 17.95 years, 50.0% female) at T2. We determined the attrition rate and analyzed psychosocial and socioeconomic predictors of attrition. Additionally, we examined differences in re-assessment efforts between maltreated and non-maltreated youth for T2. Findings indicate a comparatively low attrition rate of 28.6% over nearly 8 years. Participants’ maltreatment experiences, externalizing symptoms, and lower household income predicted higher attrition risk, while interim subsample study participation reduced this risk. Maltreatment experiences, lower household income, and higher age were also associated with increased re-assessment effort. Our study provides insights into predictors of systematic attrition in a longitudinal study with maltreated and non-maltreated youth. It highlights the need for tailored retention strategies, frequent contact with families, and targeted resource allocation to mitigate systematic attrition. </jats:p>
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„Besser wäre, wenn ich nicht geboren wäre“ – Suizidalität bei depressiven Störungen im frühen Kindesalter und ihre Verbindung zu externalisierenden Symptomen / “It Would have been Better if I had Never been Born” – Suicidality in Early Childhood Depressive Disorders and its Association with Externalizing Symptoms
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Contributors
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Steffen Elsner (Author)
- Patricia Winter (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Lars O. White (Author)
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“Just a second, mommy’s here”: the impact of mothers’ smartphone use on children’s affect regulation and the quality of mother–child interactions
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Contributors
- Aleksandra Mikić (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Georgina Perejoan Martí (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
Description
<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p>The ubiquity of smartphone devices in our everyday lives has been widely recognized as a potential challenge to the quality of parent–child interactions. The aim of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of mothers’ smartphone use on their children’s affect regulation and on the quality of mother–child interactions, indicated by emotional availability of the dyad and maternal responsiveness. Additionally, we investigated the associations between mothers’ behaviors to maintain contact with their children during smartphone use and their children’s affect regulation.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>The experiment consisted of two counterbalanced phases: the free play phase and the interruption phase, in which mothers were replying to standardized text messages in the presence of their children. The sample comprised 52 mothers and their children aged 5 to 6 months (24 female).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Infants expressed less positive affect in the interruption phase than in the free play phase, as well as more negative affect in the interruption phase when the free play phase preceded the interruption phase. In addition, the mothers showed less sensitivity and responded to less infants’ signals and in a slower way in the interruption phase than in the free play phase. Moreover, mothers showed less optimal structuring, and children showed less well involvement of their mothers in the interruption phase than in the free play phase. Lastly, more children’s negative affect was associated with a shorter duration of mothers’ smartphone use and more active mothers’ behaviors to maintain contact with their children during the smartphone use.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion</jats:title><jats:p>These results suggest that, although mothers adapt smartphone use based on their children’s affective response, mothers’ repeated smartphone use negatively impacts their children’s affect regulation and the quality of the mother–child interactions, with potentially negative consequences for the children’s social–emotional development.</jats:p></jats:sec>
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Editorial. Psychisches Befinden von Kindern und Jugendlichen während der COVID-19-Pandemie
Source: Sarah Bergmann
Maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood as predictors of children's weight at school age
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Contributors
- Franziska Schlensog‐Schuster (Author, 0000-0002-8033-6537)
- Annette M. Klein (Author, 0000-0001-8246-4666)
- Zeynep Biringen (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
Description
<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>While previous research indicates that low maternal sensitivity in mother‐child interactions puts children at risk of overweight and obesity, maternal intrusiveness has rarely been investigated in association with children's weight. We investigated whether maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness in early childhood predict children's increased body mass index standard deviation scores (BMI‐SDS) at school age. BMI‐SDS are standardized for age and gender with respect to a reference standard.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>At baseline (<jats:italic>t</jats:italic>1), we assessed maternal sensitivity and (non‐)intrusiveness of 116 mothers with their children (48.3% female) aged 5–47 months (<jats:italic>M</jats:italic> = 24.00,<jats:italic>SD</jats:italic> = 11.36) using the emotional availability scales. We obtained anthropometric data for mothers at<jats:italic>t</jats:italic>1 by measuring height and weight in the laboratory and for children at birth assessed by medical staff. Six years later (<jats:italic>t</jats:italic>2) we obtained anthropometric data for children in the laboratory or based on parental report. Linear regression analyses were run with child BMI‐SDS at<jats:italic>t</jats:italic>2 as outcome and sensitivity and (non‐)intrusiveness as predictors, adjusting for confounders and exploring child age and gender as moderators.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Maternal sensitivity only negatively predicted children's BMI‐SDS in girls, while maternal intrusiveness predicted higher child BMI‐SDS at school age regardless of child gender. The effect of maternal non‐intrusiveness remained significant when controlling for confounders.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Maternal intrusiveness in early childhood seems to represent a risk factor for increased BMI‐SDS in children, while lower maternal sensitivity tends to be a risk factor for increased BMI‐SDS in girls. This may have implications for prevention or intervention programmes.</jats:p></jats:sec>
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Evaluation der Psychoanalytischen Kurzzeittherapie (PaKT) für junge Kinder mit depressiven Störungen: Ergebnisse der Pilotstudie
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Contributors
- Annette M. Klein (Author, 0000-0001-8246-4666)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Nick Midgley (Author, 0000-0002-6263-5058)
- Tanja Müller-Göttken (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Lars O. White (Author, 0000-0001-7185-9929)
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Fathers’ emotional availability with their children: determinants and consequences
Source: Sarah Bergmann
Latent trajectories of internalizing symptoms from preschool to school age: A multi-informant study in a high-risk sample
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Contributors
- Annette M. Klein (Author, 0000-0001-8246-4666)
- Andrea Schlesier-Michel (Author)
- Yvonne Otto (Author)
- Lars O. White (Author)
- Anna Andreas (Author)
- Susan Sierau (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Sonja Perren (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
Description
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Recent proposals suggest early adversity sets in motion particularly chronic and neurobiologically distinct trajectories of internalizing symptoms. However, few prospective studies in high-risk samples delineate distinct trajectories of internalizing symptoms from preschool age onward. We examined trajectories in a high-risk cohort, oversampled for internalizing symptoms, several preschool risk/maintenance factors, and school-age outcomes. Parents of 325 children completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire on up to four waves of data collection from preschool (3–5 years) to school age (8–9 years) and Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment interviews at both ages. Multi-informant data were collected on risk factors and symptoms. Growth mixture modelling identified four trajectory classes of internalizing symptoms with stable low, rising low-to-moderate, stable moderate, and stable high symptoms. Children in the stable high symptom trajectory manifested clinically relevant internalizing symptoms, mainly diagnosed with anxiety disorders/depression at preschool and school age. Trajectories differed regarding loss/separation experience, maltreatment, maternal psychopathology, temperament, and stress-hormone regulation with loss/separation, temperament, maternal psychopathology, and stress-hormone regulation (trend) significantly contributing to explained variance. At school age, trajectories continued to differ on symptoms, disorders, and impairment. Our study is among the first to show that severe early adversity may trigger a chronic and neurobiologically distinct internalizing trajectory from preschool age onward.</jats:p>
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Recruitment strategies in a prospective longitudinal family study on parents with obesity and their toddlers
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Contributors
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Katharina Herfurth-Majstorovic (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Matthias Grube (Author)
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Commentary: The dynamic panel model: a promising approach to clarify sources of influence in developmental psychopathology – a commentary on Wichstrøm et al. (2017)
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Contributors
- Annette M. Klein (Author, 0000-0001-8246-4666)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Lars O. White (Author)
Description
<jats:p>In their study, Wichstrøm et al. (2017) have proposed a novel groundbreaking approach for developmental psychopathology that undoubtedly will inspire other research. Applying the dynamic panel model (DPM), the authors were able to show that within‐disorder (homotypic) and between‐disorder (heterotypic) continuities of psychiatric symptoms are mostly due to unmeasured time‐invariant factors while only few effects of earlier symptoms on later symptoms remained significant after accounting for these factors. The DPM calls for future applications of this approach to samples across different countries, diverse developmental phases, and in various settings – community samples and clinical samples alike.</jats:p>
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Cause or consequence? Investigating attention bias and self-regulation skills in children at risk for obesity
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Contributors
- Nora Mehl (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
- Moritz Daum (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Annette Horstmann (Author)
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Maternal mentalization affects mothers’ – but not children’s – weight via emotional eating
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- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Tobias Nolte (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
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Breastfeeding in Obese versus Normal-Weight German Mothers of Various Socioeconomic Status
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Contributors
- Matthias Grube (Author)
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- David Petroff (Author)
Description
<jats:sec> <jats:title>Background:</jats:title> <jats:p>To a large extent, breastfeeding practices depend on cultural norms. It is thus of particular importance to examine these practices in various settings, especially when considering the effect of complex factors, such as body mass index (BMI) or socioeconomic status.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Objective:</jats:title> <jats:p>This study aimed to compare the breastfeeding practices of obese mothers with those of normal weight, taking into account social and economic status.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methods:</jats:title> <jats:p> Obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> ) and normal-weight (18.5 kg/m <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> ≤ BMI < 25 kg/m <jats:sup>2</jats:sup> ) mothers with children between the ages of 6 months and 3 years were recruited for this study in Leipzig, Germany, via newspaper ads and other means. Kaplan-Meier curves for portraying breastfeeding over time were analyzed using Cox regression after checking the proportional hazards model. </jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Results:</jats:title> <jats:p>Eighty obese and 70 normal-weight mothers were recruited. Significantly fewer obese mothers breastfed (84%) than normal-weight mothers (96%) (95% confidence interval [CI] for the difference is 3 to 22 percentage points, P = .02). Even after adjusting for the level of education and family income, breastfeeding duration was significantly shorter (2.7 months; 95% CI, 0.8-4.6 months; P = .005) in the obese group than in the normal-weight group.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusion:</jats:title> <jats:p>Our findings demonstrate that even at the earliest stages, breastfeeding behavior of obese mothers differs from that of normal-weight mothers.</jats:p> </jats:sec>
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Belohnungsaufschub bei Kindern adipöser Mütter: Einfluss des mütterlichen Essverhaltens und der mütterlichen Steuerungsstrategie in der Essenssituation
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Contributors
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Annette Maria Klein (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Matthias Grube (Author)
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Maternal Weight Predicts Children's Psychosocial Development via Parenting Stress and Emotional Availability
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Contributors
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Andrea Schlesier-Michel (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Matthias Grube (Author)
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Ruth Gausche (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
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Emotional availability, understanding emotions, and recognition of facial emotions in obese mothers with young children
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Contributors
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Matthias Grube (Author)
- Sarah Herpertz (Author)
- Astrid Schütz (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
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Parent–child interaction during feeding or joint eating in parents of different weights
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Contributors
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Katharina Herfurth-Majstorovic (Author)
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
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Insatiable insecurity: maternal obesity as a risk factor for mother–child attachment and child weight
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Contributors
- Anja Keitel-Korndörfer (Author)
- Susan Sierau (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Matthias Grube (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
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Obese parents – obese children? Psychological-psychiatric risk factors of parental behavior and experience for the development of obesity in children aged 0–3: study protocol
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Contributors
- Matthias Grube (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Anja Keitel (Author)
- Katharina Herfurth-Majstorovic (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Annette M Klein (Author)
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Emotional availability of father–child dyads versus mother–child dyads in children aged 0–3 years
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- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Verena Wendt (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
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Grundlagen und psychosomatische Aspekte der kindlichen Adipositas
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- S. Bergmann (Author)
- A. M. Klein (Author)
- M. Grube (Author)
Description
<jats:title>Zusammenfassung</jats:title><jats:p>In den letzten Jahrzehnten kam es sowohl in Deutschland als auch weltweit zu einer Verdopplung bis Verdreifachung der Prävalenzraten für kindliche Adipositas. Die Entstehung einer Adipositas im Kindesalter wird auf eine Vielzahl von genetischen, biologischen und psychischen Komponenten sowie Umweltfaktoren zurückgeführt, die sich innerhalb eines komplexen Wirkungsgefüges gegenseitig beeinflussen. Adipöse Kinder und Jugendliche sind körperlichen, gesundheitlichen sowie psychosozialen Risiken ausgesetzt. Psychische Auffälligkeiten können infolge einer Adipositas entstehen, aber auch im Vorfeld zur Entstehung einer Adipositas beitragen. Psychiatrische Komorbiditäten sind bei Kindern und Jugendlichen, die aufgrund ihres Gewichts Hilfe in Anspruch nehmen, hoch, was eine interdisziplinäre Behandlung notwendig macht. Ebenso scheint die Entwicklung zielgruppenspezifischer Präventionsmaßnahmen notwendig zu sein. Eine bariatrische Operation sollte als mögliche Option nur bei extrem adipösen Patienten mit erheblicher somatischer Komorbidität in Betracht gezogen werden. Das Ziel bleibt die Entwicklung langfristig wirksamer Interventions- und Präventionsprogramme sowie die Entstigmatisierung von Adipösen.</jats:p>
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Was schützt Kinder vor Übergewicht?
Source: Sarah Bergmann
Väter von Kindern minderjähriger Mütter in der Interaktionsbeobachtung
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- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
- Eva Lehmann (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
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Triadic interaction of adolescent mothers, fathers, and infants: An exploratory study
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- Eva Lehmann (Author)
- Annette M. Klein (Author)
- Sarah Bergmann (Author)
- Kai von Klitzing (Author)
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Employment (1)
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International Psychoanalytic University Berlin: Berlin, Berlin, DE
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