Research Projects

Unsurprisingly, research shows that trauma and violence exposure are consistently linked to long-term physical and mental health consequences. Less is known, however, about how the interactions and underlying mechanisms of survivors’ dispositional and sociocultural factors influence the relationship between trauma/violence exposure and later outcomes. This is a critical gap because some individuals may be at greater risk for negative effects due to individual experiences and identities, developmental periods, and environmental (e.g., family, cultural) systems. Research at the Trauma and Healing Lab extends previous studies through the use of longitudinal data sets, various methodologies, and interdisciplinary perspectives such as clinical psychology, developmental psychology, and media psychology to study the impact of trauma and violence exposure over time on healing. Importantly, our research acknowledges that healing can take on different forms, from traditional therapeutic and psychiatric practices to mindfulness, art, and somatic therapies.

Media and Mental Health Study (MMH)

Research suggests an increase in psychological distress following exposure to potentially traumatic events in the media, especially for individuals who have experienced similar events in their own lives. The Media and Mental Health study will investigate how potentially traumatic events that we are exposed to through social media may influence our mental health, with a focus on traumatic stress symptoms. The study utilizes a repeated measures design to capture real-time reactions and symptoms to social media posts involving potentially traumatic events (e.g., images from the war in Ukraine, mass shootings, etc.). Currently, the lab is examining outcomes in an adult sample recruited via social media, and will be extending and applying this work to a sample of adolescents in the future.

Trauma and Healing Study

The Trauma and Healing Study seeks to examine changes in healing and mental health over time in children who have experienced betrayal trauma. Using a longitudinal, prospective design and a participatory action research (PAR) framework, the study will identify individual and systematic risk and protective factors emerging from early childhood betrayal trauma (CBT), and examine the role of these factors in the healing process for children from racial/ethnic minority populations (i.e., Hispanic/Latinos, Black/African Americans, Asian and Pacific Islanders, American Indian and Alaska Natives).

The Trauma and Healing Lab is currently analyzing data from Phase I of the Trauma and Healing Study, which involved qualitative interviews with adult survivors of childhood betrayal trauma. Themes from these interviews will be used to inform the study design and discussions with community partners for the pilot Phase II study, which will occur across San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties.