My program of research focuses on interpersonal and sociocultural influences on mental health in adolescence and emerging adulthood (aged 11–24), with an emphasis on gender and sexuality. A clinical psychologist by training, I integrate developmental and social psychology theories and methods into my work. I joined the UD Clinical Science Program as an assistant professor in 2020, after three years as an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). I'm the director of UD's Teen and Young Adult Lab (TAYA Lab) in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

One line of my work focuses on identifying specific social media risk factors for adolescents' body image and mental health concerns. For example, I developed and tested the construct of appearance-related social media consciousness (ASMC), which reflects individuals' ongoing awareness of whether they might look attractive to a social media audience. I've found ASMC to be associated with adolescents' and young adults' depressive symptoms and disordered eating, above and beyond overall time on social media. I also developed the first body image-specific social media eye-tracking paradigm (“Funnel") with a pilot grant from the APA Div. 7 Early Career Grant in Developmental Psychology. Recently, in collaboration with my longtime collaborator Jackie Nesi (Brown University) and my graduate students Annie Maheux and Savannah Roberts, I proposed a developmental-sociocultural model of how and why the features of social media create the “perfect storm" for girls' body image concerns. I've recently applied for federal funding to test this theoretical model. Additionally, as a co-investigator on a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (PIs: Jen Silk, Cecile Ladouceur), I'm collaborating on a study that uses fMRI and ecological momentary assessment to understand social media predictors of adolescent girls' suicide risk.

A second line of my work focuses on the body image, mental health, and sexual behaviors of LGBTQ+ youth, as well as adolescent sexuality more broadly. With my longtime collaborator Laura Widman (North Carolina State University), I've conducted many studies focused on adolescents' sexuality and sexual behaviors. With colleagues at Pitt, I've developed methods for recruiting large nationwide online samples of LGBTQ+ adolescents. Our Gender Minority Youth Study included over 1,900 transgender adolescents, allowing us to examine a broad range of mental and behavioral health indicators (e.g., body image, disordered eating, depressive symptoms, suicidality, sexual behaviors), with a focus on understanding gender minority subgroups (e.g., transfeminine, transmasculine, nonbinary). I also recently conducted a quantitative and qualitative study of LGBTQ+ adolescents in treatment for bipolar disorder, funded by NIH via Pitt's Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

I'm excited to share two new directions for my program of research, as of 2021: (1) an increasing focus on intersectionality and (2) intervention development. With regard to intersectionality, I'm collaborating with Jioni Lewis (University of Maryland) to understand Black young women's experiences at the intersection of racism and sexism, as well as resilience, in the development of gendered racial identity, sexuality, and body image. I recently received UD's 2021 Women's Studies Faculty Research Award, which will fund our qualitative interviewing this fall, led by TAYA Lab Manager Brianna Ladd. With regard to intervention development, Brian Galla (Pitt School of Ed.) and I recently published the results of two school-based randomized controlled trials, demonstrating the efficacy of a brief values-alignment intervention for adolescent social media use. We are beginning to collaborate with other researchers to adapt and disseminate our intervention in schools. I'm also collaborating on the development of a social media-based intervention for rural LGBTQ+ youth experiencing suicidality, with researchers in Pitt's School of Medicine. 

My strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) is evident in my work as a researcher, teacher, mentor, and departmental/university citizen. For example, as an out queer faculty member, I've started and led LGBTQ+ affinity groups within the Pitt and UD psychology departments, and I'm one of two faculty members on UD's university-wide PRIDE Caucus. And as a White antiracism ally, I consistently engage in critical self-reflection and antiracist training as I work toward improving the departmental and university climates for BIPOC students and staff.

To learn more about my team's work, please visit my lab website and my new Psychology Today blog.