Research
Student-Led Projects
current projects
Testing the Impact of Sexual Minority Stress on Endorsement of Prospective Behaviors Related to Borderline Personality Disorder Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Queer Adults
Elisa's dissertation project utilizes a minority stress induction paradigm to evaluate the influence of sexual orientation-related minority stress on motivation to engage in behaviors related to borderline personality disorder (BPD) among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority adults.
A Global Systematic Review of Interventions Promoting Self-Disclosure of HIV Serostatus
Our systematic review is synthesizing global interventions to increase HIV status disclosure to any confidante. We are systematically reviewing literature from 2014-2022 of quasi-experimental and experimental studies examining the effectiveness and efficacy of interventions to increase HIV-disclosure to any confidante. We are including studies that measure disclosure as a primary or secondary outcome. In our synthesis, we will extract study information to identify indicators of effective interventions (i.e., interventions that produced positive disclosure outcomes) which can shape future interventions strategies for HIV disclosure.
Psychometric Properties of the Ableist Microagression Impact Questionnaire
The objective of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties (reliability and validity) of the Ableist Microaggression Impact Questionnaire, a newly developed measure of subtle disability discrimination.
Past projects
Precarious Manhood Theory in Heterosexual, Cisgender Men, and Queer Men
Serena conducted semi-structured interviews on young men ages 18-24 and analyzed their responses using thematic analysis rooted in descriptive phenomenology. Participants discussed what manhood is, how manhood is achieved and maintained, how their definition of manhood fits with society’s definition, how a man’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity impacts their idea of manhood, and how others’ perception of their manhood impacts their self-identification as a man. The findings from this study may have implications for clinicians with diverse male patients and advocacy efforts for sexual and gender minorities.
Recommendations for queer multiracial families to navigate racialized social systems
Bharat worked on a paper that offered recommendations for queer multiracial families to support their multiracial children’s identity development, help manage systematic oppression, and create a shared family identity that can promote healthy developmental trajectories. By using frameworks based on critical race theory, such as ParentCrit and MultiCrit, along with queer socialization, the goal of the paper was to highlight the needs and solutions for queer multiracial families that are rendered invisible within intersectionality literature. This may offer greater visibility and understanding of queer multiracial families, who represent the future of American families.
Systematic Review of Community-based Reentry and Diversion Interventions in Youth Justice: Resiliency, Recidivism, and Program Outcomes
Amanda's project utilized the PRISMA method to investigate the literature on how community-based aftercare/reentry interventions and diversion programs target young offenders and impact reoffending and life outcomes. These programs focus on the rehabilitation of offenders by providing participant opportunities to boost pro-social skills, emotional regulation, productive learning, and potentially provide psychological interventions (e.g., rehab, depression management, etc).