• Eltern-Kind Interaktionen und deren kognitive, emotionale und psychophysiologische Korrelate (Schwerpunkt: Biobehaviorale Synchronie)
• Persönlichkeitsstörungen im Entwicklungsverlauf
• Emotionsregulation und Co-Regulation in sozialen Kontexten
• Intergenerationale Weitergabe von psychischen Erkrankungen und Trauma
• Psychotherapieforschung mit Schwerpunkt auf Unterstützung von Risikofamilien

Herpertz, S. C., Neukel, C., Williams, K., Georg, A., von Schönfeld, J., Schoofs, N., ... & UBICA consortium (2025). Breaking the Intergenerational Cycle of Abuse – a Randomized Controlled Prevention Trial in Parents with Serious Mental Illness. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. https://doi.org/10.1159/000549647.

Buczyłowska, D., Dittrich, K., von Schönfeld, J., Hindi Attar, C., Bermpohl, F., Herpertz, S. C., Neukel, C., Kaess, M., Williams, K., Winter, S. M., & Bödeker, K. (2025). Validation and Psychometric Properties of the German Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue) for Preschool Children. Early Education and Development, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2025.2573843

Williams, K., Fuchs, A., Kuehn, J., Fleck, L., Lerch, S., Cavelti, M., Koenig, J., & Kaess, M. (2025). Individual and HRV Synchrony in Adolescent Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder Traits and their Mothers: A Case-Control Study. Journal of Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 12(12). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40479-025-00289-0

Fleck, L., Fuchs, A., Williams, K., Moehler, E., Resch, F., Koenig, J., & Kaess, M. (2024). Child Temperament as a Longitudinal Predictor of Mother-Adolescent Interaction Quality: Are Effects Independent of Child and Maternal Mental Health?. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1-11.

Williams, K., Fleck, L., Fuchs, A., Koenig, J., & Kaess, M. (2023). Mother-Child Interactions in Adolescents with Borderline Personality Disorder Traits and the Impact of Early Life Maltreatment. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 17 (1), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-023-00645-4

Fleck, L., Fuchs, A., Moehler, E., Williams, K., König, J., Resch, F., & Kaess, M. (2023). Child versus adolescent borderline personality disorder traits: frequency, psychosocial correlates and observed mother-child interactions. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research and Treatment, 14(2), 196.  https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000574000574. 

Williams, K., Moehler, E., Kaess, M., Resch, F., & Fuchs, A. (2022). Dissociation links maternal history of childhood abuse to impaired parenting. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 23(1), 37-51. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2021.1934938.

Seeger, F. R., Neukel, C., Williams, K., Wenigmann, M., Fleck, L., Georg, A. K., Bermpohl, F., Taubner, S., Kaess, M., & Herpertz, S. C. (2022). Parental Mental Illness and Parenting Behavior: The Moderating Role of Social Support. Current Psychiatry Reports, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-022-01367-8.

Neukel, C., Bermpohl, F., Kaess, M., Taubner, S., Boedeker, K., Williams, K., Dempfle, A., Herpertz, S.C. and the UBICA-II consortium (2021). Understanding and breaking the intergenerational cycle of abuse in families enrolled in routine mental health and welfare services: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial and non-interventional trials investigating mechanisms of change within the UBICA II consortium. Trials, 22(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-021-05653-3