Lab News

June 2026

Dania Amarneh, a third-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has been selected for publication in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma. Her article is titled "Parental Threats and Anxiety Severity in Trauma-Exposed Adolescents: The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity", and it examines how anxiety sensitivity is implicated in the relation between parental threats and anxiety symptoms among adolescents who have been exposed to trauma.

March 2026

Mallory Cotton, a fourth-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has been selected to give an oral presentation at the International Neuropsychological Society's Mid-Year Meeting in Dublin, Ireland! The talk will be titled, "A Proposed Multilevel Framework for Understanding Neuropsychological Disparities in Black American Youth."

Dania Amarneh, a third-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has been selected to receive the International Honor Society in Psychology and the Association for Psychological Science (APS) 2026 Albert Bandura Graduate Research Award, based on her master's thesis, “Cognitive Predictors of Internalizing Symptoms in Clinically Anxious Youth.” 

Emily Mallin, a first-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has been selected for publication in Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Her article is titled "Acculturative Stress and Internalizing Problems Among Latinos Who Drink Hazardously: The Roles of Distress Tolerance and Emotion Dysregulation," and it examines how cognitive-affective mechanisms (i.e., distress tolerance and emotion regulation) affect the relation between acculturative stress and internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxious arousal, traumatic intrusions, and social anxiety) among Latinos who endorse hazardous drinking.

January 2026

Mallory Cotton, a fourth-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has published a chapter titled "Beyond Deficits: A Proposed Multilevel Framework for Understanding Neuropsychological and Cognitive Disparities in Black Youth." This chapter will be featured in volume 6 of Advances in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health.

Emily Mallin, a first-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has published a chapter titled "Prenatal Anxiety and Alcohol Use: Current Understandings, Transdiagnostic Processes, and the Next Frontier in Prenatal Mental Health." This chapter will be featured in volume 6 of Advances in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health.

December 2025

Jessica Hernandez-Ortiz, a sixth-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has graduated and earned her doctorate in Clinical Child Psychology! Congratulations, Dr. Hernandez-Ortiz!

November 2025

Dania Amarneh, a third-year graduate student in the CARES Lab and the 2024 winner of the University of Houston's 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition, was invited to serve as an honorary judge for the 2025 3MT competition at UH.

Emily Mallin, a first-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, presented her research at the Texas Psychological Association (TPA) annual Student Research Competition! The presentation, titled "Acculturative Stress and Internalizing Problems among Latino Hazardous Drinkers: What Role do Distress Tolerance and Emotion Dysregulation Play?", presented work from a paper she has recently submitted for publication.

August 2025

Mallory Cotton, a fourth-year graduate student in the CARES Lab, has submitted a manuscript for publication! The manuscript, titled "Preparing for Racial Bias: The Influence of Racial Regard on Emotion Socialization among Black Caregivers", employs a social-cognitive framework to examine direct and indirect associations between negative public regard beliefs, racial barrier socialization, and suppressive emotion socialization practices among Black caregivers.