Greetings!

Welcome to my small space on the web. My name is Bradley Bond; I am a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Sandra Calvert at the Children's Digital Media Center housed in the Department of Psychology at Georgetown University. I recently completed my PhD under the direction of Dr. Kris Harrison in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. My research investigates the relationship between media, health, and identity. I am particularly interested in investigating how media influences beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors related to sexual health. I hope to extend my research to new media technologies, examining how adolescents use social media for sexual identity development and information-seeking related to sexual health.

Specifically, my dissertation utilized social cognitive theories to examine the relationship between exposure to sexualized media content and the emotional health of gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents. A survey of sexual minority teens (N = 678) was conducted between February 5 and March 15, 2010. Under my supervision, a team of undergraduate research assistants completed the coding for a content analysis of sex and sexuality in the media most popular with the gay, lesbian, and bisexual participants from the survey. The content analysis was followed up by an analysis of the mediating role of identity in the relationship between media exposure and emotional well-being. This research was funded in part by the Acorn Equality Fund.

My research on media effects has received national and international press coverage (see Research Experience) and has been presented at the conferences and conventions of the National Communication Association, the International Communication Association, the Central States Communication Association, the American Psychological Association, and the Association of Internet Researchers. I have also presented workshops at the Midwest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Allies College Conference and for the University of Illinois Office of Inclusive and Intercultural Relations.

While a graduate student at Illinois, I taught several courses in my area of research interest. My teaching placed me on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent every semester I taught at the university. I was also the 2011 recipient of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by a Graduate Student award. In addition to teaching, I was entrusted with the responsibility to develop three courses. I designed both an introductory course focusing on reality television and an upper-level undergraduate course on sex in the media; I also served as the  co-course director and head instructor of a groundbreaking sexual communication course for undergraduate students that surveyed the research on sex across the many sub-disciplines of communication studies.

My work as a graduate student did not go unnoticed. I was honored to be the recipient of the 2010 Bowman Award in the Department of Communication at the University of Illinois. The Bowman Award is the highest student honor in the department, bestowed to the most outstanding graduate student based on a comprehensive evaluation of teaching, research, and service. 

Currently, I am managing a team of graduate and undergraduate research assistants in the NSF-funded Children's Digital Media Center at Georgetown University. We are working on multiple projects that investigate how very young children (18-36 months) develop parasocial relationships with media characters and if the strength of these relationships influences learning.

For more information about my research agenda, my teaching experience, or my professional service activities, explore this website, download my CV, or email me at my email address: bradleybond@gmail.com. I hope that my very simple virtual home provides you with the information about my academic interests that you may be seeking.

Thank you!