Molly Kretchmar-Hendricks, Ph.D.

Associate Dean, Professor of Psychology

Molly D. Kretchmar-Hendricks, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, where she currently serves as the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Assessment in the College of Arts & Sciences. She received her Ph.D....

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Dr. Molly Kretchmar-Hendricks

Contact Information

Education & Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

M.A., University of Texas at Austin

B.A., Loyola Marymount University

Courses Taught

PSYC 193: FYS: Risk & Resilience

PSYC 207: Research Methods in Psychology

PSYC 321: Child Psychology

PSYC 350: Adolescent Psychology

PSYC 352: Emerging Adulthood

PSYC 474: Attachment across the Lifespan

Molly D. Kretchmar-Hendricks, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, where she currently serves as the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Assessment in the College of Arts & Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Child Development and Family Relationships from the University of Texas, Austin in 1995, where she focused on parent-infant attachment and the intergenerational transmission of parenting. She completed advanced training in parent-infant attachment, including earning certification on the Ainsworth Strange Situation Procedure and coding system. She teaches courses in developmental psychology, risk and resilience, and attachment theory and has received several awards, including Teacher of the Year and Service-Learning Faculty of the Year. Her research emphasizes attachment-based interventions with at-risk parent-child dyads and with children in foster care. Dr. Kretchmar was one of the original research affiliates on the Circle of Security project. She has published academic articles in Family Process, Development and Psychopathology, Attachment & Human Development, and Zero to Three, and has presented at multiple conferences including the Society for Research in Child Development, the National Foster Parent Association, and the 2009 Zero to Three National Training Institute. Her book, co-authored with foster parent, Janet Mann, entitled Creating Compassionate Foster Care: Lessons of Hope from Children and Families in Crisis, was released in 2017.

Selected Publications 

Mann, J. C., & Kretchmar, M. D. (2017). Creating Compassionate Foster Care: Lessons of Hope from Children and Families in Crisis. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publisher. http://www.jkp.com/usa/hope-for-children-and-families-in-crisis-2.html

Mann, J. C., Kretchmar, M. D., & Worsham, N. L. (2011). Being in relationship: Paradoxical truths and opportunities for change in foster care. Zero to Three, 31 (3), 11-16.

Worsham, N. L., Kretchmar, M. D., Swenson, N., & Goodvin, R. (2009). At-risk mothers’ parenting capacity: An attachment theory and epistemological analysis. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 14, 25-41. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=15c810ab-e745-483a-82ab-aa2b009defe%40sessionmgr4007&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=2009-00375-004&db=psyh

Mann, J., Kretchmar, M. D., & Worsham, N. L. (2008). Critical issues in foster care: Lessons The Children’s Ark Learned from Barbara and Nathan. Zero to Three, 28 (6), 41-46.

Mann, J., & Kretchmar, M. D. (2006). A disorganized toddler in foster care: Healing and change from an attachment theory perspective. Zero to Three, 26(5), 29-36.

Kretchmar, M. D. (2005). Parenting. In Salkind, N.J. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Human Development (Vol. 3, pp. 966 - 974). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Kretchmar, M. D., Worsham, N. L., & Swenson, N. (2005). Anna’s story: A qualitative analysis of an at-risk mother’s experience in an alternative foster care. Attachment and Human Development, 7, 31-49. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=15c810ab-e745-483a-82ab-faa2b009defe%40sessionmgr4007&vid=5&hid=4209

Kretchmar, M. D., & Jacobvitz, D. B. (2002). Observing mother-child relationships across generations: Boundary patterns, attachment, and the transmission of caregiving. Family Process, 41, 351-374. http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=15c810ab-e745-483a-82ab-faa2b009defe%40sessionmgr4007&hid=4209

Jacobvitz, D. B., Morgan, E., Kretchmar, M. D., & Morgan, Y. (1991). The transmission of mother-child boundary disturbances across three generations. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 513-527.  http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=11&sid=15c810ab-e745-483a-82ab-faa2b009defe%40sessionmgr4007&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=1992-30998-001&db=psyh