Jason Van Allen, Ph.D.

Personal Information

Jason Van Allen is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology at Texas Tech University. His research is broadly focused on the psychological and physical health of children, adolescents, and families, with an emphasis on the scientific inquiry of health behaviors and health behavior change. Specifically, his research program has a variety of current targets:

• The development and implementation of behavioral treatments for childhood obesity and behavioral sleep disorders.
• Examining the role of goal-attainment processes (including expectations, motivation, and self-control) in health behavior among children with obesity (and health conditions generally), and how the manipulation of these processes through various levels of intervention is associated with health behavior change.
• Using technology (e.g., telemedicine, mobile health technologies) to facilitate behavior change and improve the dissemination of interventions.
• The development and validation of psychological measures related to the above areas of inquiry.

Jason Van Allen completed his undergraduate and graduate work at the University of Kansas, where he obtained a Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology in 2013. He also recently completed his internship training in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in the pediatric psychology and child health literature, and has worked as a researcher and interventionist for weight-management interventions targeted at preschoolers, school-aged children, and adolescents.

Jason Van Allen has served in a variety of leadership roles, including as a member of the Student Advisery Board of the Society of Pediatric Psychology, and as the President of the Students of the International Positive Psychology Association.

He has also won a variety of professional awards, including the Marion and Donald Routh Student Research Grant from Division 54 of APA, The American Psychological Association Division 42 Travel Award, the American Psychological Association of Graduate Students Leadership Travel Award, as well as the Brown Kirschman Award for Research Excellence and the Pioneer Classes Dissertation Award from the University of Kansas Clinical Child Psychology Program.

CV