The
Clinical Psychology Ph.D. Program at UMass Boston uses a clinical research
apprenticeship model. Each first year graduate student apprentices with a
clinical faculty member who will serve as research mentor and advisor to the
graduate student. In order to match the clinical research interests of each
graduate student with those of a faculty member, we would greatly appreciate if
you could provide information as to which areas of clinical research interest
you the most. Link to the mentor choice
form is at the bottom of this page.
Faculty who will be taking on a new student
for the 2008/2009 academic year:
Alice Carter, Ph. D.
I
am interested in studying young children at risk for problems in social and
emotional functioning. There are three projects that students could easily
become involved. Ideally, students will both contribute to the larger
projects and develop their own independent projects within the larger
projects. These independent projects most often become the focus of the
Master's thesis and Dissertation research.
The
first is a representative, longitudinal birth cohort study of children whose
parents first completed a series of questionnaires about their 1- to 3- year
olds' social-emotional, behavioral, and language development. We have
recently obtained funding to follow these children in Kindergarten to
Second grade. The current assessments include parent, teacher, and child
reports about social-emotional and behavioral functioning as well as diagnostic
status. Survey parent-report data have been collected from
approximately 1300 parents who provided information on their children's
social-emotional and language functioning as well as a variety of demographic
characteristics, parenting stress, family functioning, social support, and
parental affective symptoms. In addition, comparable information was collected
about approximately 200 children who were referred for early intervention
services based on developmental delays in language, motor, or adaptive
functioning. In addition, videotaped home visits were completed in which
parents were asked to interact with their child, and the child was administered
a developmental assessment, a mastery motivation task, and a communicative
competence task. Students can be involved in developing projects that utilize
the observational data and/or the parent report information within the existing
data set. Approximately 90% of families have now been followed longitudinally
and a subset of children, enriched for psychopathology and language problems
will be assessed in depth (e.g., parent-child interactions, direct/interview
assessments of parent and child psychopathology).
The
second project involves families with a child at genetic risk for Tourette
syndrome or Obsessive Compulsive disorder by virtue of having a parent or older
sibling with the disorder. The focus of yearly assessments in this project is
on attention and executive functioning, visual-motor functioning,
social-emotional and behavioral adjustment, and psychiatric symptoms and
disorder. Students would have the opportunity to evaluate children, interview
parents, and participate in planning and conducting data analyses in this
ongoing longitudinal study.
A
third possible project involves studying the reliability and validity of
diagnostic assessment in infants and toddlers. A project is currently
underway with an early intervention center in the
Sheree Conrad, Ph.D.
Sheree
Dukes Conrad does work in the areas of political psychology, trauma,
and dissociation. She is currently conducting a number of research projects
investigating the interaction between dissociation and contemporary social
stressors in maintaining or exacerbating symptoms of PTSD, borderline
personality, and eating disorders. Some of her students' current projects
include:
·
a study of the contribution of dissociation to distorted body image among
young adults and adolescents with eating disorders
·
the influence of media violence on willingness to use force in intimate
conflicts among males with borderline personality
·
the experimental measurement of state dissociation
·
normative vs. pathological dissociation among fine artists
My
research focuses on the adolescent to young adult transition among "at
risk" adolescents. One line of my research focuses on the early
adult consequences of childhood sexual abuse and other forms of childhood
adversity. Drawing on an ecological developmental and risk and resilience
frameworks, I have examined the effects of childhood sexual abuse on
self-esteem, depression, and self-destructive behavior in early adulthood, on
increased vulnerability to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse in young adult
relationships, and on the need for power in relationships with others. A second
line of research focuses on adolescents who have dropped out of high school,
looking both at precursors and consequences of early school leaving. In
particular, I have looked at the individual, family, and extra-familial support
resources that help adolescents who have experienced a disrupted transition
during high school get back on track as they transition to adulthood.
I would be delighted to help in mentoring any graduate students who
pursue research in these or related areas.
Michael Milburn, Ph.D.
Michael
Milburn's primary area of research interest is emotion. With this as a focus,
he is engaged in research in the areas of political psychology, communication,
and health psychology. Dr. Milburn's research in political psychology focuses
on the determinants of political attitudes, the role of emotion in public
opinion, and the effects of the mass media on political attitudes and social
behavior. Working in the context of affect displacement theory, i.e., that
emotions from childhood can be displaced onto adult political attitudes, his
research has demonstrated a relationship between experiences of harsh childhood
punishment and support for punitive public policies such as the death penalty
and the use of military force. His 1996 book, written with Dr. Sheree Conrad,
The Politics of Denial, presented his empirical research in this area and
explored the broader implications of denial for physical and mental health and
the political system.
Following
publication of his book Sexual Intelligence in 2001, Prof. Milburn’s past
students have done research on the relationship of authoritarianism to sexual
harassment, research his has continued, as well as on the impact of childhood
punishment experiences on individuals’ world view and political attitudes.
Lizabeth Roemer, Ph.D.
Our
research focuses on understanding how individuals respond to unwanted emotional
experiences in ways that ameliorate or exacerbate their difficulties, and
applying this understanding to the treatment of anxiety disorders, particularly
generalized anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. In
collaboration with Sue Orsillo, I am working on refining and empirically
evaluating an acceptance-based behavior therapy for generalized anxiety
disorder and examining the mechanisms of change in this intervention. Students
working with me often use experimental paradigms to investigate the mechanisms
and consequences of avoidance or acceptance/mindfulness of unwanted emotional
responses. Our work is grounded in behavioral (and to some extent experiential)
theories that posit that experiential avoidance or suppression of emotional
responses often leads to maladaptive consequences, whereas acceptance of and
exposure to emotions leads to successful emotional processing and more flexible
adaptation and growth.
Current/recent
projects of my students include:
A
laboratory investigation of the effects of mindfulness practice on emotional
responding and regulation
A
laboratory investigation of the effect of emotional suppression or acceptance
on risk detection among female sexual assault survivors
A
multi-method study assessing experiential awareness and its association with
mental health outcomes
A
qualitative study of the phenomena of emotional awareness and regulation among individuals
from working class backgrounds
A
questionnaire study examining the relationships among desire for control,
agency, mindfulness, systemic oppression, and symptoms of anxiety
Exploring
the nature and function of worry and generalized anxiety disorder among African
Americans
An
experimental study of the effect of worry on sensitivity to environmental
stimuli.
A
study of the role of emotional avoidance and emotional awareness in panic
attacks.
An
experimental investigation of the impact of emotional suppression on responses
to unrelated stimuli among men
Students
who work with me may choose to do an independent project or collaborate with me
or other lab members on projects already underway. A common theme across the
work of the lab is an interest in experiential avoidance and emotional
regulation, particularly the role of emotional dysregulation (and problematic
attempts to regulate emotions) in clinical problems. Recently, work has also
focused on mindfulness strategies as ways of promoting adaptive emotional
functioning.
We
are a large, active lab – students who work with me are expected to mentor an
undergraduate research assistant each year and to work as part of the lab team
throughout the year. Collaborative research studies are strongly encouraged and
students help one another with their projects.
Please
visit my webpage for more information: http://psych.umb.edu/faculty/roemer/roemer.htm
Ester Shapiro, Ph.D.
My
own work involves a theoretical project conceptualizing conditions which
support or impede family development during family life cycle transitions,
including death, birth, and adolescence. I also apply this work to
design, implementation and evaluation of culturally and developmentally
informed, community based prevention and intervention projects with women,
children and families. During academic year 2006/2007, I will be most
involved in culturally informed, positive mental health promotion initiatives
with UMB students and in Boston’s Latino communities, with a focus on
developing health education programs using participatory methodologies and
social justice approaches to health promotion and problem
prevention. Through the Mauricio Gaston Institute for Latino Research,
Public Policy and Community Development, as well as the UMass undergraduate
program in Latino Studies, I am involved in design and implementation of
student services to support college completion for Latino undergraduates.
Ideally, students I work with would be Spanish bilingual/bicultural.
Interested students should also turn to my web page after 11/1/06 for more
detailed information about women's health and community health psychology
projects.
Karen L. Suyemoto,
Ph.D.
My general research
interests focus on Asian American psychology and issues related to social
justice and anti-racist therapy practice/education. My particular personal research interest lies
in the social/individual construction of identities, particularly racial and
ethnic identities and other variables that are related to oppressed status
(race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation) or experiences of oppression
(e.g. the WWII Japanese American internment).
We are an active,
community-oriented team. For example,
grad students on my team may mentor undergrads or connect in various ways to
Asian American Studies or Asian American community issues (teaching,
organizing, mentoring). We frequently work together on team projects
as well as our own. I currently have
several research projects in different stages of data collection and analysis
with which an incoming student might become involved:
1. The
CAPAY project is a collaborative project with the Coalition for Asian
Pacific American Youth, a high school student led, high school student run
organization for Asian American high school students aimed at developing
empowerment to create social change.
This is a qualitative study exploring how the CAPAY program affects
racial and ethnic identities in youth and how changes in these identities
relate to empowerment and taking action for social change. We are currently analyzing the data.
2. Multiracial
Identity in Japanese European Americans is a survey-based study exploring
self-identification in relation to race, ethnicity, and culture; influences on
racial/ethnic identity (e.g. group acceptance or exclusion, family influences,
experiences with discrimination, developmental changes, education, etc.);
effects of being multiracial; and interaction of the multiracial Japanese
American experience with familial experience of the Japanese American
internment. We have been analyzing different aspects of the data.
3. The AsAmSt Project explores the psychological effects of
Asian American Studies for Asian American college students. This is a mixed method study, pre-post test
design examining how the completion of an Asian American Studies course affects
racial and ethnic identities, race-related mental health (e.g. race related
stress), and mental health (anxiety, depression, etc.). Data collection is continuing and we are
beginning to analyze the data.
I am interested in
mentoring a graduate student who would like to participate in one of these
projects for their Masters thesis.
Student involvement in these and other Team projects may include
quantitative data collection, analysis and interpretation, participating in
interviewing, participating in thematic analysis of interviews and linking the
qualitative and quantitative findings.
Other
Research Projects on our Team:
Current Graduate
Student Team Members are pursuing various projects related to Asian American
psychology, and marginalized identities (some related to those above and some
independent). These include:
·
Nancy
Lin is currently collecting data for her dissertation (qualitative comparative
grounded theory) exploring the ways in which Sudanese and Cambodian refugees’
identities and sense of themselves are affected by experiences of feeling one’s
homeland due to war.
·
Phuong
Nguyen is collecting data for his dissertation (qualitative grounded theory)
exploring perceptions of racialized peer groups and their effects on the racial
and ethnic identities of Vietnamese American adolescents.
·
Stephanie
Day is collecting data for her dissertation (concurrent mixed method) exploring
the relations between first-time motherhood and the development of racial
identities, ethnic identities, and cultural orientations for Korean adopted
women having a child with a White male partner.
Stephanie’s Master’s thesis was part of the CAPAY project described
above exploring the particular effects of Asian American Studies workshops on the
racial and ethnic identities of the Asian American youth.
·
John
Tawa has recently completed his Master’s thesis using data from the Asian
American Studies Project described above.
It is a quantitative relational study examining relations between race related
stress, the perception of race, and immigrant status to individual and
collective self esteem. He is beginning
planning on his dissertation related to relationships between Asian American
and African American individuals and communities.
·
Vali
Kahn is preparing for her qualifying examination and dissertation focusing on
how bisexual and multiracial people socially negotiate both insider/outsider
positions.
·
Sue
Lambe is working on her Master’s thesis exploring how perceptions of
parents’ (implicit and explicit)
messages about race/ethnicity relate to multiracial Japanese European
Americans’ racial and ethnic self
identifications.
Ed Tronick, Ph. D.
I
am interested in studying the social emotional development of infants and young
children and infant’s memory for stress. There are several ongoing projects
that students would be welcome to participate in. The student could
readily become an active member of the research team. There are many
opportunities for developing master’s theses and dissertations.
A
newly funded project by NICHD and NSF aims to understand infants’ memory for
stressful events. The primary aims of this grant are to: (1)
evaluate the stability of individual differences in infants’ behavior (positive
and negative engagement, self-regulatory behaviors), vagal tone and cortisol
response assessed during a social stress, maternal Face-to-Face Still-Face
Paradigm over a 3- or a 6-month time interval; (2) evaluate infants’ memory for
the still-face over the 3- or 6-month time interval; and (3) evaluate the
relation between infant reactivity and memory. Ten independent groups of
mother-infant dyads (N = 340, n = 34 per group) balanced for infant gender will
comprise the sample. Six groups will be randomly assigned to an experimental
condition. For infants in the
experimental condition, the 1st exposure to the FFSF will take place when the
infants are 6, 9, or 12 months of age, and their respective 2nd exposure will
be either 3 or 6 months later, at 9, 12,
15 or 18 months of age. Infants in the
control condition will be videotaped once in the FFSF, at the age corresponding
to the 2nd exposure for infants in the experimental conditions (at 9, 12, 15,
or 18 months of age). For all groups measures of infant gaze during the SF will
be coded as a measure of memory.
Infants' vagal tone (VT), cortisol response, skin conductance, and
negative engagement states and self-regulatory behaviors during the FFSF
paradigm will be scored microanalytically from videotapes will be collected at
each visit as measures of reactivity. Variations in infants’ cardio-respiratory
activity (vagal tone) will be assessed using the method developed by Porges,
and cortisol response will be measured using salivary cortisol with methods
developed by Gunnar. A measure of infant perceived temperament will be derived
at each visit from temperament questionnaires completed by the mother: the
Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) for infants at 6, 9, or 12 months and the
Toddler Assessment of Behavior Questionnaire (TABQ) for infants at 15 or 18
months of age. This study will provide valuable longitudinal on a
standard and widely used stress paradigm and make a significant contribution to
our understanding the stability of individual differences in infants’ behavior,
affect, physiological regulation, and memory during social stress. Additional
projects will be elaborated around this project including the use of ERP to
study the neurophysiology of memory and stress, and the use of the SF procedure
to serve as a stress that may disrupt memory for events.
A
newly funded project by NICHD and NSF aims to understand infants’ memory for
stressful events. The primary aims of
this grant are to: (1) evaluate the
stability of individual differences in infants’ behavior (positive and negative
engagement, self-regulatory behaviors), vagal tone and cortisol response
assessed during a social stress, maternal Face-to-Face Still-Face Paradigm over
a 3- or a 6-month time interval; and (3) evaluate the relation between infant
reactivity and memory. Ten independent
groups of mother-infant dyads (N=340, n = 34 per group) balanced for infant
gender will comprise the sample. Six
groups will be randomly assigned to an experimental condition. For infants in the experimental condition,
the 1sst exposure to the FFSF will take place when the infants are 6, 9, or 12
months of age, and their respective 2nd exposure will be either 3 or
6 months later, at 9, 12, 15 or 18 months of age. Infants in the control condition will be
videotaped once in the FFSF, at the age corresponding to the 2nd
exposure for infants in the experimental conditions (at 9, 12, 15, or 18 months
of age). For all groups measures of
infant gaze during the SF will be coded as a measure of memory. Infants’ vagal tone (VT), cortisol response,
skin conductance, and negative engagement states and self-regulatory behaviors
during the FFSF paradigm will be scored microanalytically from videotapes which
will be collected at each visit as measures of reactivity. Variations in infants’ cardiorespiratory
activity (vagal tone) will be assessed using the method developed by Porges,
and cortisol response will be measured using salivary cortisol with methods
developed by Gunnar. A measure of infant
perceived temperament will be derived at each visit from temperament
questionnaires completed by the mother:
the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ) for infants at 6, 9, 12 months
and the Toddler Assessment of Behavior Questionnaire (TABQ) for infants at 15
or 18 months of age.
There
are also numerous archival data sets that are available. For example, one is a naturalistic
observational study of depressed and non-depressed mothers with their 3, 6 and
12 month old infants aimed at exploring naturally occurring social emotional
processes. Strange situation
observations are available on this sample.
Another is a set of playful interactions of mothers and fathers and
their 6 month old sons and daughters including a triadic interaction aimed at
understanding gender differences in social emotional development and the
influence of gender on family interactions.
Yet a third, non-archival study not fully formulated is a study on the
development of relationships during the first year of life.