Doctoral Students
Current Ph.D. Students
Eyitayo Akomolafe, M.A.Home Town: Ilawe, Nigeria
Research interests: Impact of migration on adolescent development, teen pregnancy stigma, linguistic influence on adolescent development, relationship management in step parenting, identity development
Affiliation: TA, University of Kentucky
Home Town: St. Joseph, Missouri
Research interests: Adolescent development, identity formation, factors that perpetuate deviant behaviors, language and cultural factors in adolescent development
Affiliation: TA, University of Kentucky
Home Town: Scaly Mountain, North Carolina
Research Interests: Adolescent Develoment; Deviance, Violence, and Delinquency Domestic Violence; Adverse Childhood Experiences; Individual Differences and Self-control; Parenting and Family Context; risk and Resilience Factors
Affiliation: TA, University of Kentucky
Shabnam Ghorbani Kalkhajeh, M.S.
Home Town: Tehran, Iran
Research interests: Adolescent development, identity formation, family dynamics
Affiliation: TA, University of Kentucky
Home Towns: Esposende & Porto, Portugal
Research Interests: Developmental & life-course criminology; Romani children and adolescents, minority youth; differential susceptibility to environmental influences; evidence-based prevention; translation of science; intersections between health, education, and crime/justice.
Affiliation: Fulbright Fellow, La Caixa Foundation, University of Kentucky
Home Town: Beirut, Lebanon
Research Interests: Adolescent development, food addiction, eating disorders, body image, attachment style, mating preferences, cross-cultural comparative research.
Affiliation: RA, University of Kentucky
Home Town: Tehran, Iran
Research Interests: Adolescent development, self-control, internalizing and externalizing behaviors, cross-national/cross-cultural comparative studies, theory and research methods
Affiliation: TA, University of Kentucky
Past Ph.D. Students
Lara M. Belliston, Ph.D. (2004)
Home Town: Westminster, California
Research Interests: Adolescent Development, Program Evaluation, Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors, Family Processes, Theory and Research Methods
Affiliation: Lead of the State Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup, Office of Prevention and Wellness, Ohio's Strategic Prevention Framework Partnership for Success, Columbus, OH
Pan Chen, Ph.D. (2009)
Home Town: Changsha, China
Research Interests : Adolescent development, deviant behaviors, the influence of the single-child policy on adolescent adjustment, cross-cultural perspectives, Chinese immigrants
Affiliation: Director, Educational Outcomes, PeerVoice - Global Independent Medical Education
Charlene Harris, Ph.D. (2015)
Home Town: Siparia, Trinidad and TobagoResearch Interests: Perceptions of mental health, Youth violence and victimization, Family/Parent-child relationships, Cultural and race relations on adolescent deviance and crime perpetration, Adolescent sensation seeking and health risk behaviors
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Princess Anne, MD
Li Huang, Ph.D. (2007)
Home Town: Yue Yang, China
Research Interest: Deviance, self-control, family processes, General Theory of Crime, cross-cultural / cross-national, adolescence problem behaviors
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, AL
Magda Javakhishvili, Ph.D. (2019)
Home Town: Gori, The Republic of Georgia
Research Interests: Socio-cultural conceptualizations of psychological "disorders" and deviance among adolescents; social underpinnings of experiencing risk and engaging in risk taking and health-compromising behaviors; how family processes define life trajectories of internalizing and externalizing problems
Affiliation: Postdoc, Utah State University, Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Logan, UT
Dusty Jenkins, Ph.D. (2010)
Home Town: Baytown, Texas
Research Interests: Adolescent development, Adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviors, Dating relationships
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX
Gabriela Ksinan Jiskrova, Ph.D. (2018)
Home Town: Brno, Czech Republic
Research Interests: identity development, minority group adolescents
Affiliation: Postdoc, Faculty of Science, Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Emily Kahumoku-Fessler, Ph.D. (2011)
Home Town: Enterprise, Alabama
Research Interests: Adolescent and Adult Sexuality, Body Image/Objectified Body Consciousness, Clinical Interventions for issues regarding sexuality, Adolescent Development
Affiliation: Associate Professor, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, University of Houston Clear Lake, Houston, TX
Albert J. Ksinan, Ph.D. (2018)
Home Town: Ostravice, Czech Republic
Research Interests: structural equation modeling, personality, hierarchical linear modeling
Affiliation: Postdoc, Faculty of Science, Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment (RECETOX), Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Jakub Mikuška, Ph.D. (2019)
Home Town: Bratislava, Slovakia
Research Interests: Adolescent development, personality, video games, social media, cyberspace, research methods
Affiliation: Postdoc, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic
Dan Liu, Ph.D. (2022)
Home Town: Chongqing, China
Research Interests: Child and adolescent development, how parenting and sleep are associated with adolescent self-control, mental health, and deviant behaviors
Affiliation: Postdoc, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, College of Medicine, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Lloyd E. Pickering, Ph.D. (2005)
Home Town: Robbinsdale, Minnesotta
Research Interests: Adolescence, family processes, deviant behavior, religiosity, parent-teen relationships
Affiliation: Consultant
Melissa J. Scarpate (2015)
Home Town: Midland City, Alabama
Research Interests: Child and family well-being, strengthening families, quality pre-K programs, family processes, single parent families, kinship support, child/adolescent developmental outcomes
Affiliation: Faculty Affiliate, Texas A&M University, San Antonio, TX
J. Blake Snider, Ph.D. (2002)
Home Town: Anniston, Alabama
Research Interest: Parenting, adolescence, religiosity, mentoring, transition to adulthood, attachment theory
Affiliation: Assistant Chair, Associate Professor, Department of Management, Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, Clemson University, Clemson, SC
Elizabeth M. Trejos, Ph.D. (2006)
Home Town: San José, Costa Rica
Research Interests: Family processes, immigrants, crime, adolescent adjustment problems, internalizing behaviors, cross-national/cross-cultural studies
Affiliation: Vice Provost International Affairs, C.R. Hutcheson Professor in Human Development & Family Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX