Projects

CURRENT PROJECTS

The Health and Well-being of Children who are blind or visually impaired (CBVI)

Collaboration with Dr. Sarah Victor and funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Summary of Project: Children who are blind or visually impaired (CBVI) report lower health related quality of life and experience higher rates of chronic health conditions and psychopathology compared to children with typical vision. Despite the prevalence of childhood blindness being greater than or equal to other rare, but well-researched, childhood conditions (e.g., childhood leukemia), research is virtually nonexistent regarding psychological, social, and environmental factors that directly (and uniquely) impact the wellbeing, health, and development of CBVI. The PRYDe lab in collaboration with the TRT and ENERGY labs has been awarded a multi-year 3.6M grant from the National Eye Institute to investigate how psychosocial and developmental factors contribute to mental and physical health outcomes among CBVI. This project will: (1) recruit a first of its kind, large, national sample of CBVI; (2) obtain detailed measures of external negative social experiences including bullying, peer rejection, and social isolation and the negative affective states and cognitions that result from these experiences from the perspectives of both caregivers and children; (3) use advanced multivariate analytic techniques to identify the contributions of these factors – beyond other relevant contributors to health – to physical and mental health outcomes among CBVI; and (4) obtain multi-method, multi-informant assessments of physical and mental health status to further validate our findings. We intend for the results of this project to foster the development of interventions aimed at improving long-term health outcomes and promoting resilience among CBVI – thereby having an important positive impact on the growth, wellbeing, and development of this population.

The Teens Understanding Feelings (TUF) Intervention for Justice-Involved Youth

Summary of Project: This project aims to determine the initial efficacy of a new mental health intervention adapted from an existing evidence-based treatment, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, and designed specifically for youth involved in the juvenile justice system. This research is significant given this treatment targets the emotional dysregulation underlying both the high rates of mental health disorders among justice-involved youth and their risk for continued justice system involvement. While traditional DBT has demonstrated efficacy in improving emotion regulation and reducing behavior problems, its delivery is too resource-intensive and prolonged for use with youth in correctional settings. The proposed study will determine whether a single-session, adapted form of DBT called the “Teens Understanding Feelings” or “TUF” program can address these shortcomings and still benefit this vulnerable and underserved population. Specifically, the TUF program aims to improve emotion and behavior regulation, conduct problems, mental health symptoms, and overall well-being among currently detained youth in a single session. We hope this research can help guide mental health interventions in correctional settings to improve youths’ quality of life and avoid the compounding negative effects of continued justice involvement not limited to adverse mental and physical health outcomes, premature mortality, and significant economic burden.

On the Brink: Identifying Immediate Precursors to First-Time Juvenile Offending Using a Case-Crossover Design

Summary of Project: Victoria’s dissertation project aims to employ a novel research design uniquely amenable to the detection of proximal risk factors of juvenile delinquency. Specifically, the case-crossover design helps clarify how temporary situational factors influence the likelihood of an event by comparing an individual's exposure to risk factors in the period leading up to the event versus an earlier control period. In the current study, the case-crossover design is being implemented to investigate factors that may fluctuate daily that have previously been linked to juvenile offending behavior more broadly. First-time juvenile offenders are administered a structured interview to gather retrospective information on behaviors, events, and affective responses during the hours prior to first time offense. We hope to expand previous literature by highlighting psychological factors (e.g., affect) that may fluctuate and be uniquely severe in the hours preceding juvenile first-time offense. With this, findings may provide practical implications for targeted prevention efforts aimed at time-sensitive risk factors for delinquent behavior.

 

COMPLETED PROJECTS

Neurocognitive Functioning of Justice-Involved Youth

Collaboration with Boys Town National Research Hospital and Dr. Paul Ingram

Summary of Project: Youth involved in the justice system are unfortunately exposed to a number of traumatic experiences. Exposure to trauma is related to several problems in youth, including mental health disorders, disruptions in normal brain development, and delinquency. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between trauma exposure, neurocognitive functioning, and mental health disorders with justice-involved youth detained at Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center (LCJJC). Specifically, we are interested in determining if neurocognitive functioning (e.g., executive function, language, emotion processing, response to threat) moderates the impact of trauma and other adverse childhood experiences (poverty, parental incarceration, parental substance abuse, etc.) on the development of mental health disorders and delinquency. This work has implications for the treatment and prevention of delinquency and mental health problems within justice-involved youth and other vulnerable populations.

Exploring Epigenetic Influences of Aggression, Risk, and Resilience in Justice-Involved Youth

Funded by American Psychology-Law Society Research to Enhance the Impact and Diversification (REID) of Psychology & Law Research August 2019-August 2020

Summary of Project: This study aims to examine the relations between micro RNA (miRNA) - an epigenetic regulator - and environmental and criminogenic risks common in justice-involved youth (e.g., child maltreatment, antisocial peers, traumatic brain injury) as well as examine if specific miRNAs are associated with outcomes of interest to forensic psychology (e.g., externalizing psychopathology, substance use, and cognitive deficits). In collaboration with Lubbock County Juvenile Justice Center, we are collecting measures of intellectual, neuropsychological, and executive functioning; adverse childhood experiences as well as direct trauma exposure; traumatic brain injury history; criminogenic risk and needs from the Risk-Needs-Responsivity Model; and general psychopathology in addition to miRNA saliva samples. This project aims to comprehensively examine potential epigenetic regulators of environmental and criminogenic risk within a justice-involved youth sample at several levels of analysis including behavioral (e.g., questionnaire based measurement), genetic/biological (e.g, miRNA salivary samples), and neuropsychological (e.g., individually administered clinical tasks). 

Understanding the Influence of Caregiver Risk and Protective Factors on Child Development with an At-risk Preschool Population

Collaboration with Dr. Jason Van Allen and the ENERGY Lab at Texas Tech University

Summary of Project: This study aims to examine how caregiver and family factors impact a child’s functioning in multiple domains within an underserved preschool age group, including children enrolled in Head Start.  From child participants, we are collecting measures of intellectual development; language skills; executive function skills (e.g., planning and problem solving, cognitive control / impulsivity, and short-term memory); physical activity, nutrition, and body mass index; behavioral development (e.g., mental health symptoms and adaptive function skills); and epigenetic factors (e.g., micro RNA associated with stress and brain development). From caregivers, we are collecting thorough information on caregiver risk and resilience factors (e.g., caregiver histories of traumatic stress, child maltreatment, mental health symptoms, family functioning, community / social support, access to community and economic resources, and individual traits such as emotion regulation and resiliency). This type of comprehensive approach will help clarify risk / resilience mechanisms increasing our understanding of the biological and psychosocial mechanisms that potentiate intergenerational transmission of adversity and pave the way for the development of novel interventions.