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Social Work School of Social Work

Carolyn Dayton

Carolyn Dayton

Associate Professor

Early child social-emotional development, early parenting, perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, the effects of trauma on young children and parents, and fathering

5447 Woodward Avenue, Room 055, Detroit, MI 48202

(313) 577-5254

carolyn.dayton@wayne.edu

Carolyn Dayton

Biography

Carolyn Joy Dayton, PhD, LP, LMSW, IMH-E® conducts research focused on early parenting processes with an emphasis on fathering in urban settings. She is engaged in policy initiatives aimed at revising state and local policies that disproportionately and negatively affect poor, urban fathers. As an Infant Mental Health Specialist, Dayton has over two decades of experience providing clinical interventions to the families of infants and young children in a wide range of settings including home-based, center-based and hospital programs. Dayton is a licensed practitioner of clinical social work and clinical psychology and is endorsed as an infant mental health mentor (MI-AIMH) in the areas of clinical practice and research. Dayton's program of research is fundamentally translational and transdisciplinary; it is informed by her clinical work with families and aims to identify biological and psychosocial risk and resilience factors that influence parenting processes and early child development.

Dayton holds a joint appointment at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development where she serves as the Associate Director of the Infant Mental Health (IMH) Program. The IMH program provides specialized, multidisciplinary training in early intervention with the families of infants, toddlers and young children. The program focuses on the development of clinical skills that allow the practitioner to promote healthy social emotional development in young children using a culturally informed approach to service delivery. Infant Mental Health Flyer

Click here to view Curriculum Vitae

Responsibilities

Associate Director, Infant Mental Health Program, Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development

Degrees and Certifications

  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, Michigan State University
  • Graduate Certificate in Infant Mental Health, University of Michigan
  • MA, Michigan State University
  • MSW, University of Michigan
  • BA, Kalamazoo College
  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist (Michigan)
  • Licensed Clinical Social Worker (Michigan)
  • Infant Mental Health Mentor (MI-AIMH) - Clinical & Research, IMH-E®
  • Certified Michigan Trainer:  Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, Zero to Three. 

Awards and Honors

  • Wayne State University President's Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2023
  • Fatherhood Advocate Award, Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network, 2021

Teaching Interests

  • Infant Mental Health Assessment and Practice
  • Interpersonal Practice with Children and Families

Areas of Expertise

SUBSTANTIVE

  • Infant Mental Health
  • Fathering in Urban Environments
  • Parenting in Contexts of Risk
  • Emotion Regulation Processes in Parenting and Early Child Development
  • Biological and Psychosocial Processes in Early Parenting
  • Fathering Influences on Early Child Development

METHODS 

  • Longitudinal Developmental Research
  • Bio-behavioral Data Collection and Coding
  • Quantitative Data Analysis
  • Qualitative Data Analysis
  • Typological Narrative Coding
  • Secondary Data Analysis

Recent Publications

       Recent Representative Publications

Brown, S., Hicks, L., Saini, E., Carbone, J., Panisch, L., Dayton, C. J. (2023). The Moderating Role of Social Support on the Cortisol Stress Response of Expectant Fathers Exposed to Adverse Childhood Experiences. Journal of Family Violence, 40(1), 1-11

Dayton, C. J. (2023, March). Helping fathers bond with their babies during pregnancy. Retrieved from https://childandfamilyblog.com/fathers-bonding-with-baby-during-pregnancy/.

Carbone, J. T., Brown, S., Hicks, L. M., Saini, E. K. & Dayton, C. J. (2023). Adverse childhood experiences: Associations with a blunted cortisol stress response during pregnancy. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 27, 1293-1300.

Barron, C. C., Dayton, C. J., & Goletz, J. L. (2022). From the voices of supervisees: What is reflective supervision and how does it support their work? Infant Mental Health Journal, 43, 207-225.

Barron, C. C., Dayton, C. J., & Goletz, J. L. (2022). Levels of influence on the supervisee’s experience of reflective supervision: A theoretical model. Infant Mental Health Journal, 226-241.

Dayton, C. J., Malone, J. C., & Brown, S. (2020). Pathways to parenting: The emotional journeys of fathers as they prepare to parent a new infant. In H. E. Fitzgerald, K. vonKlitzing, N. Cabrera, T. Skjothaug and J. S. de Medonca (Eds.), Handbook of Fathers: Prenatal to PreK. New York: Springer Press.

Dayton, C.J., Barron, C. C., Stacks, A. M., & Malone, J. (2020). Infant Mental Health: Clinical Practice with Very Young Children and their Families. In J. Brandell, Theory and Practice in Clinical Social Work (Ed.). San Diego, CA: Cognella.

Dayton, C. J., Johnson, A., Hicks, L., Goletz, J. Brown, S. Primuse, T. Green, K., Nordin, M., Welch, R., & Muzik, M. (2019). Sex differences in the social ecology of breastfeeding: A mixed methods analysis of breastfeeding views of expectant mothers and fathers. Journal of Biosocial Science, 51(3), 374-393

Hicks, L. M., Dayton, C. J. (2018). Depressive and trauma symptoms in risk-exposed, expectant mothers and fathers: Is mindfulness a buffer? Journal of Affective Disorders, 238, 179-186. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.05.044

Dayton, C. J., Matthews, W. K., Hicks, L., & Malone, J. (2017). The expression of music throughout the lives of expectant parents. Psychology of Music, 45(6), 839-854. doi: 0305735617692165

Swain, J. E., Ho, S., Rosenblum, K. L., Morelen, D., Dayton, C. J. & Muzik, M. (2017). Parent-child intervention decreases stress and increases maternal brain responses and connectivity in response to own baby-cry: An exploratory study. Development and Psychopathology, 29, 535-553. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579417000165

Grants

Recent Representative Grants

The Social Work Family Clinic: Behavioral Health Services for Young Children & Mothers (January, 2023 – December, 2024).  Ethel & James Flinn Foundation. PI: Carolyn Dayton.

Social Work Family Clinic (March, 2023 – February, 2024). Total Health Care Foundation. PI: Carolyn Dayton.

The Early Childhood Support Clinic: Increasing Access to Maternal Mental Health Services within a Pediatric Setting.  (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025). Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Special Call: Advancing Maternal Health Equity Co-PIs: Carolyn Dayton and Alissa Huth-Bocks.

The Early Childhood Support Clinic: Improving Access to Maternal-Infant Mental Health Care through Integrated Pediatric Care (October 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025). Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. Co-PIs: Carolyn Dayton and Alissa Huth-Bocks.

The Early Childhood Support Clinic: Establishing a Sustainable Billing Model for Parent and Early Childhood Mental Health Services in a Pediatric Setting (January 1, 2024 – December 31, 2025). Priority Health Total Health Foundation.

Building Capacity for Mother-Infant Mental Health Services in a Pediatric Setting (January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2026).  Ethel and James Flinn Foundation.  Co-PIs: Carolyn Dayton and Alissa Huth-Bocks.

Integrated Care Policy Working Group (January 1, 2025 – December 1, 2026); Perigee Fund. Integrated Care Subgroup Leaders: Carolyn Dayton and Alissa Huth-Bocks

Concrete Services for the Early Child Support Clinic (January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025). Young Woman’s Home Association Project Leads: Carolyn Dayton and Alissa Huth-Bocks.

Promoting Health Equity for Mothers and Infants through Integrated Pediatric Care (February 1, 2025 – September 30, 2025). Southeast Michigan Quality Improvement Coalition; Project Leads: Carolyn Dayton, Alissa Huth-Bocks, and Meghan Dwaihy.

Pronouns

 She/Her

Grand Challenges Project

The Early Childhood Support Clinic at Wayne Pediatrics

“Infant mental health: Michigan clinic aims to build resiliency for a lifetime” Bridge Michigan 4/29/24: https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-health-watch/infant-mental-health-michigan-clinic-aims-build-resiliency-lifetime

“Wayne State program helps moms, dads get mental health help” Detroit Free Press 6/20/24: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/2024/06/19/wayne-state-early-childhood-clinic-pediatrics-mental-health/73977166007/

“Early Childhood Support Clinic Pioneers Integrated Care for Families” Flinn Foundation https://www.flinnfoundation.org/wsu-early-childhood-support-clinic-integrated-care/

“How can we improve maternal health care in Detroit?” WDET The Metro 11/26/24 https://wdet.org/2024/11/26/how-can-we-improve-maternal-health-care-in-detroit/

“Why more medical professionals are focusing on Michigan babies’ mental health” The Detroit News 12/17/24: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/12/17/infant-mental-health-babies-focus-wayne-state-programs-relationships-caregivers/76776052007/

Courses taught by Carolyn Dayton

Fall Term 2025 (future)

Winter Term 2025 (current)

Fall Term 2024

Winter Term 2024

Fall Term 2023

Winter Term 2023

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