studies & articles
The Blog
One of the many pleasures of being a professor was feeling the need to stay on top of the research in psychology. When I first learned about the half-life of knowledge, the literature typically said it was 3-5 years in technical fields. As a retired professor, I am still a member of the American Psychological Association and subscribe to a service that delivers abstracts and open-source articles from a large number of journals. As an alumna of Harvard, I also get information from them and I have the time to peruse multiple sources. This is a pleasure most professionals don’t have, especially if they value
work-life balance.
I still love research and, when I was asked to write the blog, I enthusiastically agreed. I try to select articles based on their relevance to practitioners, but also to capture both emerging themes and important corrections. I am hopeful that, moving forward, we will have ways to enable readers to easily engage in conversations with me and each other.
-Dr. Karen Nelson
The interplay between father–adolescent phenotypic resemblance and interparental conflict in predicting harsh discipline
Platts, Sturge-Apple, Davies & Martin (2022) published “The Interplay Between Father–Adolescent Phenotypic Resemblance and Interparental Conflict in Predicting Harsh Discipline” in Journal of Family Psychology. I found this study intriguing because I have often heard people make judgments about a child that project qualities from the parent the child most resembles.
Post traumatic stress disorder, drinking to cope, and harmful alcohol use
Luciano et al. (2022) published “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Drinking to Cope, and Harmful Alcohol Use: A multivariate meta-analysis of the self-medication hypothesis” in Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.
Adolescent suicide risk, firearm access, and family functioning
Weissinger, Myhre, Ruan-Iu, Van Fossen & Diamond (2022) published “Adolescent Suicide Risk, Firearm Access, and Family Functioning: Screening in primary care” in Families, Systems, & Health.
Is High Self-Esteem Beneficial?
Orth. & Robins (2022) published “Is High Self-Esteem Beneficial? Revisiting a classic question” American Psychologist, 77(1), 5-17.
Emotion regulation in old and very old age
Kunzmann, Katzorreck, Wieck, Schilling, Lücke & Gerstorf (2022) published “Emotion Regulation in Old and Very Old Age” in Emotion. I like this study because it uses multiple measures and contrasts the young old (averaging 66 years) and the very old (averaging 86 years). As more seniors live well into their 80s and 90s, it makes sense to study them.
The policing paradox
Del Toro, Jackson & Wang (2022) published “The Policing Paradox: Police stops predict youth’s school disengagement via elevated psychological distress” in Developmental Psychology. I have written before about punitive practices inside schools and their adverse impacts on children. This study examines the effects of police stops on school engagement. Here’s the abstract
Socioenvironmental drivers of adolescent suicide in the United States: A scoping review
Runkle, Harden, Hart, Moreno, Michael & Sugg (2022) published “Socioenvironmental Drivers of Adolescent Suicide in the United States: A scoping review” in Journal of Rural Mental Health.
A UC Davis study reports that adolescent suicide rate increased 60% between 2007 and 2018, making it the second leading cause of death for young people. Runkle et al. focus on rural teens. Here’s the abstract
Spiritual and Religious Competencies in Psychology.
Religion and spirituality (R/S) are important aspects of human diversity that should be explicitly addressed in the field of psychology. The field has already included R/S in its definitions of multiculturalism, but while multicultural training
Parents’ Reflective Functioning and Conflict Interactions With Their Adolescent Children.
Parents’ Reflective Functioning and Conflict Interactions With Their Adolescent Children.
Any time and place? Digital emotional support for digital natives.
Any time and place? Digital emotional support for digital natives.
Traditional masculinity ideology and resistance to psychotherapy.
Levant, McCurdy, Keum, Cox, Halter & Stefanov. (2022) published “Mediation and Moderation of the Relationship Between Men’s Endorsement of Traditional Masculinity Ideology and Intentions to Seek Psychotherapy” in Professional Psychology:
Marijuana may be legal but not always safe.
The Harvard Gazette published an article, “It May Be Increasingly Legal, But It Doesn’t Mean Cannabis Is Safe” on April 21, 2022. They begin by citing data:
A recent CBS News/YouGov survey found that two-thirds of Americans want recreational marijuana use to be legal. Nearly 70 percent of states allow the medical use of cannabis products and a growing number have legalized recreational use.
They then note that neuroscientist Yasmin Hurd says “that doesn’t mean cannabis gets a clean bill of health.” Her discussion of endocannabinoids, prenatal development, and the adolescent brain id helpful.