Past and Future Research

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Dissertation

Little is known about the sexual minority stress process and how it intersects with aging, which is problematic as there will be a dramatic increase of older sexual minorities in the following years and the life histories of this group differ considerably from younger sexual minorities. The overarching objective of my dissertation study is to examine daily minority stressors and well-being in an adult lifespan sample of sexual minorities. I will be having sexual minorities of different ages take daily experiences where they will report on their experiences of minority stressors and well-being across 3 weeks. The goals of my study are to provide more insight into the microprocesses of the stress-distress link, explore how these links are predicted by age/cohort, and lastly examine potential reasons why age/cohort differences exist.

I will be starting to recruit very soon! Stay tuned for more information!

Outline and Description of Past and Ongoing Research Projects

Older Sexual Minorities

The aim of my Thesis was to connect minority stressors to relationship and sexual satisfaction among individuals in same-sex couples and to explore age/cohort differences in these associations. Specifically, I collected data on 200+ individuals in same-sex relationships ranging across the adult lifespan (18-80) and assessed their levels of minority stress, relationship dynamics, and mental health. Two manuscripts have been produced from this project: one is press and the other is in process of being submitted for publication. I also am working with Dr. Bisconti and my fellow TRI-Lab members on the Social Support and Pride Project. In order to promote our research and become more involved in the sexual and gender minority communities, the TRI-Lab have had booths at several Pride Festivals. Across these festivals, we have interviewed sexual and gender minorities with the goal to better conceptualize how these groups perceive social support at pride events. Currently, we are analyzing these interviews.

Ageism

Since my start in the TRI-Lab, I have worked on the TRI-Ageism project that aimed to shed light on benevolent attitudes toward older adults. The first study was an experimental vignette that investigated whether young adults hold benevolent attitudes towards a fictional older women and is published in the Journal of Social Psychology. Presently, I am working with Jennifer Sublett on finishing the Replication Study that extends this design to assess attitudes toward older men and further disentangles the role of target gender in benevolent ageism. I also am working with Katelyn Frey on the OK Boomer project which is exploring the thoughts, feelings, and antecedents of the phrase “OK Boomer” and how these predict intergenerational tensions. Most recently, I have been aggregating data from the different TRI-Lab projects that was collected before and after the start of the pandemic to identify whether there has been a Rise in Ageism since early 2020. Currently, I am finishing data collection and analysis on this project.

Other Projects

I have recently collaborated with Dr. Jennifer Stanley and the graduate students in the Emotions and Aging Lab on the Aging and Social Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic project. The goal of this endeavor was to address age differences in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to the pandemic. Currently, I am first author on a manuscript exploring how ageism predicts reactions to the pandemic. I have also collaborated on two other manuscripts exploring age-related positivity effects to the pandemic and use of humor as a coping mechanism.