Research

• Personality and individual differences

• Psychosocial development

• Well-being

• Power and Agency within life and relationships

• Relationships Research

• Behavior Genetics Research

• LGBTQIA+ and genderqueer populations 

• Across research interests, an overarching theme is representing the diversity of human expression and experience.

1. What defines having power in a romantic relationship? How is it enacted? And what are the resulting outcomes? 

• Junkins, E. J., Derringer, J., Ogolsky, B. G., Hardesty, J. L., & Weisberg, Y. (in press). Measures of power dynamics in relationships research. Journal of Marriage & Family Theory. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/f6wbn_v1

• Junkins, E. J., Galpalli, K., Ogolsky, B. G., Kanter, J. B., & Hardesty, J. L. (under review, 2025). Meta-analysis of relationship functioning and power dynamics: Will you be more satisfied with greater power over your partner? DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/C75UW

• *Schuch, E. & Junkins, E. J. (writing). Meta-analysis of depression and romantic power dynamics. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/C75UW

• +Carter, M., Junkins, E. J., Hardesty, J. L., Kanter, J., & Ogolsky, B. G. (writing). Meta-analysis of intimate partner violence and romantic power dynamics. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/C75UW

2. Whare are mechanisms that impact or help sustain a satisfying, high quality romantic relationship?

• Junkins, E. J., Briley, D. A., Ogolsky, B. G., & Derringer, J. (2025). Registered Report Stage II: Does personality vary by relationship power? An investigation of satisfaction in diverse romantic partnerships. Journal of Research in Personality, 116, 104597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2025.104597

• Junkins, E. J., Li, E. Y., Ogolsky, B. G., & Hardesty, J. L. (analysis, April 2025). Political policy concerns as a new regime takes over: Are concerns related to ideology, voting, personality, identity salience, or social identity? https://osf.io/j8dtu

• Ogolsky, B. G., Junkins, E. J., Hardesty, J. L., Kawas, G., Line, E. Y., Carter, M., Monk, J. K., & Rivas-Koehl, M. (analysis, June 2025). Sociopolitical uncertainty and well-being during the 2025 U.S. presidential transition. https://osf.io/j4r8p

• Carter, M., Junkins, E. J., Kawas, G., Li, E. Y., Hardesty, J. L., & Ogolsky, B. G. (preregistration). The state of the home: A longitudinal analysis assessing gender differences in sociopolitical  uncertainty and intimate partner violence. https://osf.io/dpgsy/

• Jackson-Gordon, R., Dariotis, J. K., Junkins, E. J., Hardesty, J. L., & Ogolsky, B. G. (preregistration, April 2025). Dyadic coping and intimate partner violence. https://osf.io/vnzcq

• Junkins, E. J. & Dugan, K. A. (preregistration, accepted for submission to special issue). Investigating measurement equivalence and predictive validity of popular measures of relationship quality across diverse gender partnerships and relationship configurations. https://osf.io/nphqe

3. How does context influence personality traits and individual differences? 

• Junkins, E. J., Briley, D. A., Ogolsky, B. G., & Derringer, J. (2025). Examination of repeated measurement of personality, social relationships and mental health in a sexual and gender diverse sample. International Journal of Psychology, 60(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.70069

• Junkins, E. J., Ogolsky, B. G., & Derringer, J. (2024). Not like everybody else but we’re the same: Psychosocial variables compared across diverse sexual and gender identities. Journal of Personality. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12989

• Junkins, E. J., Briley, D. A., & Derringer, J. (2025). The assessment and heritability of a brief measure of agency. Behavior Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-025-10220-6

• Junkins, E. J., Pantin, K. & Derringer, J. (2024). Personality across broader sexual orientations and gender identities in an online convenience sample. Journal of Research in Personality. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2024.104466

• Junkins, E. J., Kadel, B. E., & Derringer, J. (2025). Parental and partner attachment working models in romantic relationships of nonbinary adults. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 42(5), 1178–1198. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075251316318

• Junkins, E. J., Potter, J. E., Rentfrow, P. J., Gosling, S. D., Potter, J., Harden, K. P., Tucker-Drob, E. M., Derringer, J., & Briley, D. A. (2021). Geographic variation in personality is associated with fertility across the United States. Personality Science, 2, 1-26. https://doi.org/10.5964/ps.7275

• Kadel, B. L., Junkins, E. J., & Derringer, J. (under review, 2025). Gender expression varies within diverse gender identities in adolescents and adults. [preprint]. PsyArXiv. https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/mcqz7_v1

4. How do the relations between personality and health as well as relationships and health generalize across diverse identities and relationships? 

• Junkins, E. J., Briley, D. A., Ogolsky, B. G., & Derringer, J. (2025). Examination of repeated measurement of personality, social relationships and mental health in a sexual and gender diverse sample. International Journal of Psychology, 60(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.70069

• Junkins, E. J., Ogolsky, B. G., & Derringer, J. (2024). Not like everybody else but we’re the same: Psychosocial variables compared across diverse sexual and gender identities. Journal of Personality. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12989

• Junkins, E. J., Mroczek, D., Graham, E., & Luo, J. (preregistration). Similarities in psychosocial development across gender and sexuality: A coordinated data analysis. https://osf.io/pr8sg

• Lee, K. M. N., Junkins, E. J., Luo, C., Fatima, U. A., Cox, M. L., & Clancy, K. B. H. (2022). Investigating trends in those who experience menstrual bleeding changes after SARS- CoV-2 vaccination. Science Advances, 8(28). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abm7201

5. How does social and structural discrimination impact scientific trust, research participation, and help-seeking?

• Junkins, E. J., Chehab, S., Lee, K. M., & Clancy, K. (2024). No one listens to us, we know this, so we participated: Qualitative evidence from menstruation research participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women’s Health. https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057241285189

• *Wasfie, D., Junkins, E. J., & Derringer, J. (writing). Queer Arab Americans’ perceptions of Western queer spaces & belonging.

• *Huang, T., Junkins, E. J., Fluty, E., Sheibani, H., & Straka, B. (writing). Mixed-methods study of discriminatory experiences among trans women of color. https://osf.io/j7s6r

6. Meta-science: Who do we include in research? How can we measure identities and context to be more inclusive and clear on limits of generality? 

• Junkins, E. J. & Derringer, J. (in press). Gathering demographic data about gender, sexual, and relational identities: Asking what we need to know. Advances in Methods & Practices in Psychological Science. https://osf.io/np8ju/ 

• Junkins, E. J., Dugan, K., Chehab, S., Han, S., Liu, T., Yuan, J., & Derringer, J. (2024). Systematic review of queer people and minority identities in romantic relationships research. Psychology & Sexuality. DOI: 10.1080/19419899.2024.2307045

• Dugan, K. A., Junkins, E. J., Derringer, J., & Briley, D. A. (2024). Appreciating all that life has to offer: Expanding the richness and diversity of the life experiences we study. European Journal of Personality. DOI: 10.1177/08902070231211207

• Junkins, E. J., Chehab, S., Lee, K. M., & Clancy, K. (2024). No one listens to us, we know this, so we participated: Qualitative evidence from menstruation research participation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women’s Health. https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057241285189

• Junkins, E. J., Ogolsky, B. G., & Hardesty, J. L. (analysis, February 2025). Defining relationship science and sociocultural context: A survey of experts. https://osf.io/qm6dt

Independent Researcher

Department of Psychology

Social-Personality Psychology, EPIC Lab

UIUC

2019-2024

The works in progress for my independent research are mostly preregistered or in some further state above. However, briefly these works thread together representation, inclusivity, diversity, power dynamics, personality, romantic relationships, health, and well-being. I conduct works in multiple fields of study, including personality psychology, behavior genetics, and public health. I use skills, like structural equation modeling (SEM), behavior genetic SEM, qualitative analysis in R, metascience, and literature reviews. I use survey data collected using REDCap and obtained from secondary sources, and I use data collected from articles by research assistants and overseen by me.

Research Assistantship

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

Biological Anthropology, Clancy Lab

UIUC

2021-2022   

Quantitative analysis of a large, online survey of menstrual experiences following COVID-19 vaccines. The Clancy lab conducted a survey of menstrual changes and vaccine experiences of all currently or past menstruating people. My role includes cleaning the data, coding data, conducting analysis, and creating visual presentations of the results.

·   Curated the data from original survey, N= 101,824.

·   Wrote and programmed the follow-up survey that was more sensitive to vaccine dose timing and period timing before, during, and after vaccine doses.

·   Prepped, summarized, and analyzed the data for one manuscript, multiple conference presentations, and multiple grant applications.

·   Conducted, presented, and wrote up the report for a qualitative project using open-ended responses in the original survey.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Department of Psychology

Social Psychology & Cognitive Psychology labs

UT

2017-2018   

I assisted graduate students in the social psychology lab, InSPHIRe, for three semesters and one summer. Concurrently, for one semester I assisted graduate students in the Decision Research Lab. I completed a literature review, learned SPSS and DirectRT, coded data, input surveys in PsychData, and ran participants through multiple studies. Over the summer, I handled in person survey distribution to patients at a community health clinic.