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Clark University
Department of
Psychology
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Your Research Experience at Clark

Clark’s setting as a small, urban research university provides a wealth of opportunities to grow as an independent researcher. Below, learn more about research in our three doctoral programs in psychology: clinical, developmental, and social.

Our Research in Clinical Psychology

Clark’s setting as a small, urban research university provides a wealth of opportunities to grow as an independent researcher. Using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods, our clinical psychology graduate program ensures students receive extensive research training that builds cumulatively from foundational and more heavily mentored experiences to more independent activities, including building a research portfolio and completing an independent dissertation study.

As teaching assistants and through lab work, graduate students collaborate with faculty, their cohorts, and undergraduates while managing and mentoring teams. Indeed, much research takes place with and among our partners in the greater Worcester community. Graduate students present their work at external conferences and at Clark’s Graduate Student Multidisciplinary Conference, and publish in leading journals like Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, Child Development, the Journal of Early Adolescence, the Journal of Marriage and Family, the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, and Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.

The small size of our program allows students to build close mentored relationships with their faculty advisers who are recognized experts in their fields.

FACULTY EXPERTISE          RESEARCH GROUPS, LABS, AND FORUMS

Recent Dissertations and Publications in Clinical Psychology

2023-24 Academic Year

  • Kory Cabrera (Advisor: Kathleen Palm Reed), An Intensive Longitudinal Investigation of the Influence of State Distress Intolerance on Alcohol Craving and Use
  • Safiye Ebra Elsharnouby (Advisor: Esteban Cardemil), Piety, Body, Desire: Examining Pious Muslim Women’s Sexual Subjectivity in Turkey
  • Emma Kironde (Advisor: Michael Addis), “My race is always front and center”: Black men in psychotherapy
  • Nora Kline (Advisor: Kathleen Palm Reed), A Multi-Study Approach to Understanding the Role of Alcohol Use, Emotion Regulation, and Trauma History in Female-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence: An Examination of 13 Theory of Violence and Social Learning Theory
  • Setareh Rossman (Advisor: James Córdova), The Heart’s Intention: Evaluating the Impact of a Values Intervention on Behavior, Conflict, and Satisfaction in Intimate Relationships
  • Hee Chong (David) Yoo (Advisor: James Córdova), “Growing The Intimacy Tree”: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Protocol for Building Connections between Emerging Adults and their Parents

2022-23 Academic Year

  • Rachel Lerner (Advisor: Wendy Grolnick), Motivation and Mindsets in Children with ADHD: Relations with Parenting Style and Academic Performance

2021-22 Academic Year

  • Madeline Benz (Advisor: Kathleen Palm Reed), Consideration of Contextual Factors in Understanding Treatment-Seeking for Problematic Substance Use
  • Reihonna Frost-Calhoun (Advisor: Abbie Goldberg), Former Foster Youth’s Experiences with their Sibling Relationships in Foster Care & in Adulthood
  • Nicholas Canby (Advisor: James Córdova), Examining the phenomenological characteristics, predictors of positive and negative impacts, and long-term effects of experiences that involve a loss of self or a dissolution of its boundaries
  • Douglas Gazarian (Advisor: Michael Addis), Is Men’s ‘Externalizing Depression’ a Clinically Useful Construct? Tests of Incremental Validity and Acceptability Across Risk-Groups
  • Jonathan Jampel (Advisor: Michael Addis), Reducing Sexual Aggression Among College Men: An Application of Deviance Regulation Theory
  • Melissa Manley (Advisor: Abbie Goldberg), Experiences of Same-Sex Attracted Consensually Nonmonogamous Parents and their Partners
  • Nestor Noyola  (Advisor: Esteban Cardemil), Exploring the Relationships among Critical Consciousness, Minority Stress, Depression, and Psychological Well-being among LGBQ+ Latinxs

2020-21 Academic Year

  • Alessandra Caruso (Advisor: Wendy Grolnick), Antecedents and Correlates of Health Mindsets in Pediatric Chronic Pain
  • Taylor Dovala (Advisor: James Córdova), Turning Towards Inclusivity: An Adaptation of The Relationship Checkup for Same-Sex Couples
  • Ethan Hoffman (Advisor: Michael Addis), An Investigation of Dualistic Thinking in Men’s Mental Health
  • Madeline Levitt (Advisor: Wendy Grolnick), Understanding Parental Control and Structure in Anxious and Non-Anxious Children: An Observational Study
  • Emily Maher (Advisor: James Cordova), Mindful mothering: A pilot study of a brief mindfulness-based intervention for postpartum women
  • Jampel, J. D., Gazarian, D., Addis, M. E., & Hoffman, E. (2020). Traditional masculinity ideology and diagnostic aversion predict symptom expression in a community sample of distressed men. Sex Roles, 82, 704-715.
  • Kline, N. K., Cabrera, K. B., & Reed, K. M. P. (2021). Predicting different types of intimate partner aggression perpetration: The roles of problem alcohol use and distress tolerance. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260521990830
  • Kline, N. K., & Palm Reed, K. M. (2020). Betrayal vs. nonbetrayal trauma: Examining the different effects of social support and emotion regulation on PTSD symptom severity. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000983
  • Lerner, R. E., & Grolnick, W. S. (2020). Maternal involvement and children’s academic motivation and achievement: The roles of maternal autonomy support and children’s affect. Motivation and Emotion, 44(3), 373-388. doi: 10.1007/s11031-019-09813-6.
  • Lerner, R. E., Camerota, M., Tully, K. P., & Propper, C. (2020). Associations between mother-infant bed-sharing practices and infant affect and behavior during the still-face paradigm. Infant Behavior and Development. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2020.101464
  • Goldberg, A. E., Garcia, R. L., & Manley, M. H. (in press). Monosexual and nonmonosexual women in same-sex couples: Relationship quality and mental health during the first five years of parenthood. Sexual and Relationship Therapy.
  • Goldberg, A., Frost, R., Noyola, N. Evidence-based practice for LGBT parents. (To appear in The Handbook of Evidence-based Mental Health Practice with LGBT Clients.
  • Rice, J., & Virginia, H. (2024). Relationships with families of origin. In The SAGE encyclopedia of LGBTQ+ studies. Edited by Abbie E. Goldberg. 2nd Edition. SAGE Publications, Inc.
  • Petrova, K., Nevarez, M.D., Rice, J., Waldinger, R.J., Preacher, K.J., & Schulz, M.S. (2021). Coherence Between Feelings and Heart Rate: Links to Early Adversity and Responses to Stress. Affective Science. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-020-00027-5 
  • Goldberg, A. E., Silvert, L., & Farr, R. Family-Building Desires Among Adopted Adolescents with Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Parents. (2024). Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies. http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.13042
  • Goldberg, A. E., Silvert, L., & Charlton, B. (2024). Perceived Impact of the Overturning of Roe v. Wade on Queer Parents’ Reproductive and Sexual Lives. Sexuality Research and Social Policy.
    Silvert, L. Reproductive Justice and Abortion. (2024). In A. E. Goldberg (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies (second ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071891414
  • Silvert, L., & Mezey, N. Deciding Whether to Parent. (2024). In A. E. Goldberg (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies (second ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071891414
  • Goldberg, A., Virginia, H., Logan, M., Silvert, L., McCormick, N. (2023). “If only we knew…”: An Exploratory Study of Parents of Adopted Adolescents Seeking Residential Treatment. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107053
  • Wagner, A. C. & Heberle, A. E. (2024). Exploring the development of narrative identities in emerging adults who have been in foster care. Children and Youth Services Review, 164, 107868. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2024.107868

Our Research in Developmental Psychology

A core part of graduate training in developmental psychology involves participation in one of the active labs or areas of research described below. Students join one or more of these groups and remain active throughout their graduate studies. Click on the individual labs or research groups to learn more about the topical focus and students, postdocs, and visitors involved.

Note as well that the developmental forum provides an opportunity for all members of these groups (as well as other interested individuals) to regularly come together to discuss current research and salient issues pertaining to developmental psychology of interest to all in the program.

FACULTY EXPERTISE           RESEARCH GROUPS, LABS, AND FORUMS

Recent Dissertations and Publications in Developmental Psychology

Ph.D. students in developmental psychology conduct research that examines a spectrum of human development ranging from analyzing the experiences of LGBTQ emerging adults to identity in and outside of ethnic, and beyond.

2023-2024 Academic Year

  • Sangmi Park (Advisor: Alena Esposito), Rational Number Understanding Across Development and Mathematical
    Achievement

2022-2023 Academic Year

  • Nicole O’Dea (Advisor: Ana Marcelo), Examining Experiences of Caregivers with Neurodiverse Children During Periods of Adversity

2021-2022 Academic Year

  • Felicia Wolontis (Advisor: Michael Bamberg), A Discursive Approach to Young Women’s Identity Construction in the Workplace

2020-2021 Academic Year

  • Deeya Mitra (Advisor: Jeffrey Arnett), Emerging Adulthood in India
  • Chakraborty J., & Esposito A.G. (2024). Adult learners self-derive new knowledge through integration of novel information and prior knowledge and are more successful with reactivation. Mind, Brain, and Education (in press).
  • Budwig, N., Han, H., Fernandes, R.J., Lee, J., Wang, S., and Wolff, B. (2023). Eugenics, prejudice, and human development revisited: The role of structural racism. Human Development, 67 (3), 170–172.
  • Elsharnouby, E., Dost-Gözkan, A. Adolescents’ Well-Being with Respect to the Patterns of Disclosure to and Secrecy from Parents and the Best Friend: A Person-Centered Examination. J Youth Adolescence 49, 1687–1701 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-020-01246-6
  • Ashdown, B. K., and Faherty, A. N. (In press). Creating culture: Parenting and childcare practices. New York, NY: Springer Publishing.
  • Lee, J., & Budwig, N. (2024). How students make sense of mentorship experiences during the transition from high school to college: A positioning analysis. American Journal of Qualitative Research, 8(3), 167-192. https://doi.org/10.29333/ajqr/14894
  • Budwig, N., Lee, J. & Fernandes, R.J. (Dec. 2023). A developmental and sociocultural approach to the transition from high school to college: The Importance of understanding student meaning-making. Human Arenas of Development.
  • Park, S., & Esposito. A. G., (2024). Rational number representation, math anxiety, and algebra performance in college students. Cognitive Development, 69, 101417.

Our Research in Social Psychology

From studying the psychology of activism to politically motivated intergroup conflict and violence, Clark’s social psychology graduate students analyze some of the day’s most pertinent issues using quantitative and qualitative research methods. Our graduate program ensures students receive extensive research training that builds cumulatively from foundational and more heavily mentored experiences to more independent activities, like building a research portfolio and dissertation research. Much of our faculty and student research takes place within community settings, locally or internationally.

Through lab work, graduate students collaborate among faculty, their cohorts, and undergraduates. Graduate students present their work at external conferences such as the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the International Society of Political Psychology, or the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues and at Clark’s Graduate Student Multidisciplinary Conference, and publish in journals like Feminism and Psychology, the Journal of Social Issues, and Psychology of Men and Masculinity.  Graduate students’ scholarship, along with our faculty’s research, is diverse both in theory and method, which is a mark of distinction and strength across our department’s three programs.

Our faculty has guest-edited special issues in the Journal of Social Issues as well as the European Journal of Social Psychology and founded the Journal of Social and Political Psychology. Their research and expertise have been recognized with funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Psychological Association, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among others.

At the heart of our research are the program and department’s research groups, forums, and lab meetings where faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students discuss common theoretical concerns and research interests. In fact, graduate students are encouraged to work closely with one another, with advanced undergraduate students, and with faculty colleagues in developing their program of research with the goal of growing as an independent researcher.

FACULTY EXPERTISE          RESEARCH GROUPS, LABS, AND FORUMS

Recent Dissertations and Publications in Social Psychology

2023-2024 Academic Year

  • Thekia Jackson (Advisor: Nicole Overstreet), The Intersections of Race, Gender, and Class for Working- and Middle-Class Black Mothers: Examining Mothering and Resistance
  • Nida Jamshed (Advisor: Andrew Stewart), Understanding Political Resistance among Minority Disadvantaged Groups: Group Resistance Norms as a Social Psychological Explanation
  • Hu Young Jeong (Advisor: Johanna Vollhardt), The Dialectical Process of Power and Resistance
  • Helin Unal (Advisor: Johanna Vollhardt), A Holistic Approach to Studying Collective Victimization and Resistance Strategies: How Different Beliefs about Collective Victimization Relate to Support for Various Resistance Strategies

2021-2022 Academic Year

  • Maho Aikawa (Advisor: Andrew Stewart), A Discursive Approach to Young Women’s Identity Construction in the Workplace

2020-21 Academic Year

  • Michelle Twali (Advisor: Johanna Vollhardt), The role of group-based power in collective victimization experiences
  • Davis, G. E., Hines, D. A., & Reed, K. M. P. (2021). Routine activities and stalking victimization in sexual minority college students. Journal of interpersonal violence, 0886260521991879
  • Gambardella, G., Benz, M., Hines, D. A., & Palm Reed, K. M. (2020). A Descriptive Analysis of College Students’ Experiences of Female-Perpetrated Sexual Assault. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice. https://doi.org/10.1177/1043986220936077
  • Vollhardt, J. R., & Twali, M. S. (in press). The aftermath of genocide: Divergent social psychological processes among victim and perpetrator groups. In L. Newman (Ed.), “Why are they doing this to us?” The social psychology of genocide and extreme intergroup violence. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Ünal, H., Uluğ, Ö. M., & Blaylock, D. (2020, June 11). Understanding the Kurdish Conflict Through the Perspectives of the Kurdish-Turkish Diaspora in Germany. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000485
Contact Information

Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology

Office Location

  • Jonas Clark Hall, 3rd floor
    950 Main Street
    Worcester MA 01610

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