Dr. Connor Kerns has conducted and published studies on a broad array of topics including the role of paternal age in likelihood of autism spectrum disorder (heron autism), the co-occurrence of childhood psychopathologies, and differential predictors of CBT efficacy for child anxiety. Her present research focuses on the varied presentation and phenomenology of anxiety in autism and the implications of this variation for effective anxiety measurement and treatment. Dr. Kerns’ research also focuses on the understudied area of stressful and traumatic experiences in youth and young adults with autism. Current studies focus on better understanding sources and expressions of traumatic stress in autistic youth and young adults, developing and testing novel measures of stressful experiences and PTSD and considering cognitive mechanisms, including social-emotional processing and memory, that may enhance or diminish coping following a stressor for autistic individuals.

Research interests include assessment and treatment of childhood anxiety and stress-related disorders (including trauma-related disorders) in children, particularly those on the autism spectrum.

For a full list of publications, see Google Scholar.

Hunsche, M. C., & Kerns, C. M. (2025). How social cognition relates to different dimensions of social connection among autistic individuals: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000265

Ng-Cordell, E., Pickard, H., Bedford, R., Richard, A., Zaidman-Zait, A., Zwaigenbaum, L., … & Kerns, C. M. (2025). Longitudinal associations between autistic children’s anxiety and social communication differences: The moderating role of executive function behaviours. Autism, 29(4), 1058-1071.

Wardell, V., Stewardson, C. I., Hunsche, M. C., Chen, F. S., Rights, J. D., Palombo, D. J., & Kerns, C. M. (2024). Are autistic traits associated with a social-emotional memory bias?. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 180, 104578.

Kerns, C. M., Robins, D. L., Shattuck, P. T., Newschaffer, C. J., & Berkowitz, S. J. (2023). Expert consensus regarding indicators of a traumatic reaction in autistic youth: a Delphi survey. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 64(1), 50-58.

Stewardson, C. I., Hunsche, M. C., Wardell, V., Palombo, D. J., & Kerns, C. M. (2023). Episodic memory through a social and emotional lens. Emotion, 23(4), 961.

Vasa, R. A., Kerns, C. M., Singh, V., McDonald, R., Jang, Y. S., & Keefer, A. (2023). Anxiety in autistic preschool children: Phenomenology and a network analysis of correlates. Autism Research, 16(8), 1561-1572.

Kerns, C. M., Lankenau, S., Shattuck, P. T., Robins, D. L., Newschaffer, C. J., & Berkowitz, S. J. (2022). Exploring potential sources of childhood trauma: A qualitative study with autistic adults and caregivers. Autism, 26(8), 1987-1998.

Hunsche, M. C., Cervin, M., Storch, E. A., Kendall, P. C., Wood, J. J., & Kerns, C. M. (2022). Social functioning and the presentation of anxiety in children on the autism spectrum: A multimethod, multiinformant analysis. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 131(2), 198.

Kerns, C. M., Winder-Patel, B., Iosif, A. M., Nordahl, C. W., Heath, B., Solomon, M., & Amaral, D. G. (2021). Clinically significant anxiety in children with autism spectrum disorder and varied intellectual functioning. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 50(6), 780-795.

Kerns, C. M., Berkowitz, S. J., Moskowitz, L. J., Drahota, A., Lerner, M. D., Usual Care for Autism Study (UCAS) Consortium, & Newschaffer, C. J. (2020). Screening and treatment of trauma-related symptoms in youth with autism spectrum disorder among community providers in the United States. Autism, 24(2), 515-525.

Vasa, R. A., Keefer, A., McDonald, R. G., Hunsche, M. C., & Kerns, C. M. (2020). A scoping review of anxiety in young children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 13(12), 2038-2057.

Dean of Arts Mentorship Award (2025)
Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award (2021)