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Julie Cederbaum

Associate Professor

Focuses on the impact of adversity on parents and children, with particular focus on dyadic processes that strengthen family systems.

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Julie Cederbaum
Phone:  +1 213.740.4361
Rank:  Tenure Track Faculty

Julie Cederbaum

Associate Professor

Focuses on the impact of adversity on parents and children, with particular focus on dyadic processes that strengthen family systems.

Media Contact

Biography

Julie Cederbaum is an associate professor in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. Her work focuses on the impact of childhood adversity, positive and compensatory experiences, and family processes on the well-being of youth. Using a dyad and family systems lens, her research explores the strengths and challenges experienced by families, and ways in which parenting processes and behaviors (i.e. parent–child communication, parental monitoring, parent–child relationship, and parental role modeling) and positively influence behavioral health in children, adolescents and young adults.

In collaboration with Children’s Institute, Inc, Cederbaum is evaluating a group-based intervention to explore ways in which knowledge and skill-building strengthen father-child and father-partner relationships. This longitudinal intervention work is funded by a grant from the Administration of Children and Families. Cederbaum also recently completed a SC CTSI Pilot Funded project which used a sequential mixed-methods design to examine the experiences of transitional age youth in foster care (TAYFC) with the goal of understanding the profiles of TAY who are currently participating or have participated in the independent living services programs, the benefits of service engagement and remaining perceived needs of TAYFC who participate in the program, and the desire or need for a more structured intervention to meet goals.

Other projects are focused on pregnancy and parenting, behavioral outcomes for teen mothers and their children, parenting and behavioral outcomes among adolescents of HIV-affected families, partner and parenting relationships in military families, experiences of child-welfare involved youth and the role of social support in facilitating positive outcomes in adolescents in young adults. This work has been funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Drug Abuse, Department of Defense and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

Cederbaum serves on committees of the Society of Social Work and Research and Grand Challenges of Social Work. She also serves as the discipline director for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles: Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (CA-LEND).

To reference the work of Julie Cederbaum online, we ask that you directly quote their work where possible and attribute it to "Julie Cederbaum, faculty at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work” (LINK: https://dworakpeck.usc.edu)

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Education

University of Pennsylvania

PhD 2009

University of Pennsylvania

MPH 2007

University of California, Los Angeles

MSW 2001

Drew University

BA 1997

Area of Expertise

  • Parenting
  • Motherhood
  • Fatherhood
  • Behavioral Health
  • Reproductive Health
  • Social Work Education
  • Social Work Practice

Industry Experience

  • Social Services
  • Research
  • Education/Learning
  • Health and Wellness

Research Interest

Children & Families Behavioral Health Reproductive Health Childhood Adversity

Grand Challenges

Public health social work as a unifying framework for social work’s grand challenges

Cederbaum, J. A., Ross, A. M., Ruth, B. J., & Keefe, R. H. (2019).
Public health social work as a unifying framework for social work’s grand challenges. Social Work, 64, 9-18. doi:10.1093/sw/swy045

Articles & Publications

Reyes, J., Cederbaum, J. A., Zerden, L., Zelnick, J., Ross, A. M. (2025). Understanding the social worker experience with organizational changes in HSOs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership, & Governance, 49(1), 100-115. https://doi.org/10.1080/23303131.2024.2377073

Yoon, Y., Cederbaum, J. A., Duan, L., Lee, J. O. (2024). Intergenerational continuity of childhood adversity and its underlying mechanisms among teen mothers and their offspring. Child Maltreatment, 29(4), 557-573. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595231200145

Okine, L., Rebbe, R., Cederbaum, J. A. (2024). State variations in child maltreatment reports among adolescents in the United States. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 18(4), 870-881. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2023.2264808

Ross, L., Okine, L., Cederbaum, J. A. (2024). Promoting social support as a protective factor for parental stress and child behavior problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Family Issues, 45(10), 2604-2621. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X231209047

Courses

Integrative Practice I
Principles underlying social work practice with emphasis on rapport building, engagement, assessment and contracting individuals, families and groups through a framework of social justice.

SOWK 770 Introduction to Qualitative and Mixed Research Methods
Overview of the use of qualitative and mixed methods in social, clinical and health services research.