Current Projects

My dissertation research examined how emerging adults' perceptions of their comfort and confidence with seven interpersonal competence categories (e.g., emotional support provision, conflict management, self-disclosure, etc.) shape the quality of their close friendships. Current efforts focus on publishing findings from that project as well as expanding the measurement portion of the project to examine how best to assess interpersonal competence. This work highlights the skills that help young adults build and maintain supportive, high-quality friendships. 

Led collaboratively by students at St. Olaf College and Rockhurst University, this project explores emerging adults' parasocial connections with social media influencers. The team is currently refining and expanding a measure of parasocial engagement to better capture how people experience one-sided but emotionally meaningful relationships. Ongoing data collection and analysis aim to shed light on the factors predicting parasocial engagement and strength, with the goal of presenting findings at a professional conference in the Spring of 2026.

This project will examine predictors of empathy during emerging adulthood, a developmental stage marked by expanding social networks and increasing demands for perspective-taking. Guided by attachment theory, we will test whether parent–child attachment or attachment with romantic partners better accounts for individual differences in empathic responding. In addition, we will explore demographic factors such as gender, academic major, and other background variables, in order to understand how personal contexts shape the development of empathy.