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Key Publications

Fellows and affiliates of the Institute for Adolescent Mental Health and Well-Being publish their research findings in a variety of peer-reviewed academic journals. Below are sample research publications from key topics researched by IAMH members.

Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents and Young Adults

Alloy, L. B., & Nusslock, R. (2025). An Integrated Immuno-Reward Model of Adolescent Depression: Theory, Evidence, and Implications. Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214251369722

Ganiban, J. M., Blackwell, C. K., Liu, C., Leve, L., Neiderhiser, J., Mansolf, M., Chen, Z., Acevedo, B., Brennan, P. A., Bush, N. R., Frazier, J. A., Hipwell, A. E., Keating, D. P., LeWinn, K. Z., Morales, S., Norona-Zhou, A., Sullivan, A., Yao, L., Yi, L., & Zhu, Y.  (2025). Depressive and anxiety symptoms during adolescence: The protective roles of adolescent and family assets within ECHO's diverse national population. Mental Health Science, 3(1), e103. https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.103

Nusslock, R., Alloy, L. B., Brody, G. H., & Miller, G. E. (2024). Annual Research Review: Neuroimmune network model of depression: A developmental perspective. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines, 65(4), 538–567. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13961

LaRosa, K. N., MacArthur, E., Wang, F., Zhang, H., Pan, H., Brigden, J., Pappo, A., Wilson, M. W., & Crabtree, V. M. (2022). Light therapy for QoL/depression in AYA with cancer: A randomized trial. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 47(3), 306–317. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsab098

Exercise and Mental Health

Damme, K. S. F., Vargas, T. G., Walther, S., Shankman, S., & Mittal, V. (2024). Physical and mental health in adolescence: Novel insights from a transdiagnostic examination of FitBit data in the ABCD study. Translational Psychiatry, 14(75). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-024-02794-2

Koselka, E. P. D., Weidner, L. C., Minasov, A., Berman, M. G., Leonard, W. R., Santoso, M. V., de Brito, J. N., Pope, Z. C., Pereira, M. A., & Horton, T. H. (2019). Walking green: Developing an evidence base for nature prescriptions. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(22), 4338. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16224338

Engeln, R., Goldenberg, C., & Jenkins, M. (2023). Body surveillance may reduce the psychological benefits of exercise. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 42(5), 427-451. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2023.42.5.427

Identifying Adolescents at Risk for Developing Psychosis 

Damme, K. S. F., Han, Y. C., Han, Z., Reber, P. J., & Mittal, V. A. (2024). Motor precision deficits in clinical high risk for psychosis. European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 274(6), 1427–1435. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-023-01645-3

Lozano-Goupil, J., Gupta, T., Williams, T. F., Pinkham, A.E., Haase, C.M., Shankman, S.A., & Mittal, V.A. (2025). Automated analysis of clinical interviews indicates altered head movements during social interactions in youth at clinical high-risk for psychosis. Schizophrenia, 11(1), 81. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41537-025-00627-9

Cowan, H. R., McAdams, D. P., Ouellet, L., Jones, C. M., & Mittal, V. A. (2024). Self-concept and Narrative Identity in Youth at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 50(4), 848–859. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbad142

Zarubin, V. C., Haase, C. M., Norton, E. S., Briggs-Gowan, M. J., Allen, N. B., Wakschlag, L. S., & Mittal, V. A. (2025). Clues from dyadic interactions in early childhood predict psychotic-like experiences at the transition to adolescence in a sample enriched for psychopathology risk. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0001053

Understanding Adolescent Brain Development 

Insel, C., & Cohen, A. O. (2025). More Than Just a Phase: Adolescence as a Window Into How the Brain Generates Behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 34(3), 149-156. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214251313733

Phaneuf-Hadd, C. V., Jacques, I. M., Insel, C., Otto, A. R., & Somerville, L. H. (2025). Characterizing age-related change in learning the value of cognitive effort. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 154(6), 1667–1680. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001745

The Impact of Social Media on Mental Health

Blackwell, C. K., Mansolf, M., Rose, T., Pila, S., Cella, D., Cohen, A., Leve, L. D., McGrath, M., Neiderhiser, J. M., Urquhart, A., & Ganiban, J. M. (2025). Adolescent Social Media Use and Mental Health in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Study. The Journal of adolescent health:Official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 76(4), 647–656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.12.003

McGregor, M. M., Li, L. Y., Trivedi, E., Sarkas, S. E., Sritharan, A., Massac, L., Durham, K., Allen, N. B., Auerbach, R. P., & Shankman, S. A. (2025). A longitudinal study of objective dating app usage and its relation to mental health in adolescents. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000999

Engeln, R., Loach, R.*, Imundo, M.*, & Zola, A.* (2020). Compared to Facebook, Instagram use causes more appearance comparison and greater body dissatisfaction in college women. Body Image, 34, 38-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2020.04.007

Suicide Prevention 

Hodson, N., Johnson, C., & Beidas, R. S. (2024). Integrating insights from implementation science and behavioral economics to strengthen suicide screening strategies for pediatric populations. Current Opinion in Psychology, 59, 101854. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101854

Schalley, S., Goldenstein, K. M., Graeve, T., Timmons, Z., Elshami, N., Beidas, R. S., & Hoffmann, J. A. (2024). Retrospective evaluation of implementation of caring contacts for youth suicide prevention in an emergency department. JACEP Open, 5(5), e13322. https://doi.org/10.1002/emp2.13322

Identity Development in Adolescents and Young Adults 

Jones, B. K., Destin, M., & McAdams, D. P. (2018). Telling better stories: Competence-building narrative themes increase adolescent persistence and academic achievement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 76, 76–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2017.12.006

Fitzsimons, A. Z., Gerber, E. M., & Long, D. L. (2025). AI constructs gendered struggle narratives: Implications for self-concept and systems design. In Proceedings of the 2025 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT '25) (pp. 2290–2301). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715275.3732156

Silverman, D. M., Rosario, R. J., Hernandez, I. A., & Destin, M. (2023). The Ongoing Development of Strength-Based Approaches to People Who Hold Systemically Marginalized Identities. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 27(3), 255-271. https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683221145243

Methodological Advances: Brief Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults 

Schleider, J. L., Zapata, J. P., Rapoport, A., Wescott, A., Ghosh, A., Kaveladze, B., Szkody, E., & Ahuvia, I. L. (2025). Single-session interventions for mental health problems and service engagement: Umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 21, 279–303. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081423-025033

Zapata, J. P., Rapoport, A., Wescott, A., Gandhi, S., Bergstrom, T. C., Avila, A. A., Kuhns, L. M., Garofalo, R., & Schleider, J. L. (2025). Single-Session Interventions To Enhance HIV Outcomes among Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Scoping Review and Implications for Integrating HIV and Mental Health Services. AIDS and behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-025-04834-4

Methodological Advances: Harnessing Technology to Reach Adolescents and Young Adults

Macapagal, K., Stoner, M. C. D., Guss, C. E., Sukhija-Cohen, A. C., Moucheraud, C., Saberi, P., & Maragh-Bass, A. C. (2025). Lessons Learned in Engaging Adolescents and Young Adults to End the US HIV Epidemic. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 98(5S), e88–e97. https://doi.org/10.1097/QAI.0000000000003616

Figueroa, C. A., Ramos, G., Psihogios, A. M., et al. (2025). Advancing youth co-design of ethical guidelines for AI-powered digital mental health tools. Nature Mental Health, 3(1), 870–878. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00467-7

Kruger, M., Goldschmidt, A. B., Ortega, A., Wharton, A., Chapa, D. A. N., Stalvey, E. R., Rooper, I. R., Obleada, K. T., Miller, G. C., & Graham, A. K. (2025). Applying design to design: Demonstrating how to create a human-centered design session interview guide for use with adolescents. Frontiers in Digital Health, 7, 1507517. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdgth.2025.1507517

Knapp, A. A., Cohen, K., Kruzan, K. P., Kornfield, R., Herrera, M., Pederson, A. B., Lee, S., Macapagal, K., Roulston, C. A., Clarke, K., Wijaya, C., Simmons, R., Jackson, L., Kour, S., Franco, S., & Mohr, D. C. (2025). Teen perspectives on integrating digital mental health programs for teens into public libraries (“I was always at the library”): Qualitative interview study. JMIR Formative Research, 9, e67454. https://doi.org/10.2196/67454

Psihogios, A. M., & Stiles-Shields, C. (2025). Introduction to the special issue: Improving digital health implementation in pediatric populations, from design to sustainment. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 50(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsae094

Methodological Advances: Developing Effective Assessments for Adolescents and Young Adults

Young S.R., Novack M., Dworak E.M., Kaat A, Hossenian, Z., Gershon R. (2024) Using the Mobile Toolbox in Child and Adolescent Samples: Initial Evidence of Reliability, Validity, and Acceptability. Child Development, 95(4), 1416-1424. doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14066  

Murphy, K. M., Glock, R., Victorson, D., Reddy, M., Birken, S. A., & Salsman, J. M. (2025). Co-Design of a Depression Self-Management Tool for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors: User-Centered Design Approach. JMIR formative research, 9, e67175. https://doi.org/10.2196/67175

Salsman, J. M., Nightingale, C. L., Canzona, M. R., Howard, D. S., Tucker-Seeley, R. D., Wiseman, K. D., Victorson, D. E., Robles, J. M., Roth, M., Smith, R., Reeve, B. B., & Danhauer, S. C. (2024). Asking the "Right" Questions about Financial Hardship: Using Cognitive Interviews with Adolescents and Young Adults with Cancer and Their Caregivers to Inform Measure Development. Journal of adolescent and young adult oncology, 13(5), 760–767. https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2024.0041

The Development of Leadership in Adolescents and Young Adults

Tackett, J. L., Reardon, K. W., Fast, N. J., Johnson, L., Kang, S. K., Lang, J. W. B., & Oswald, F. L. (2022). Understanding the Leaders of Tomorrow: The Need to Study Leadership in Adolescence. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 18(4), 829-842. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916221118536

Wolniak, G. C., Chen-Bendle, E. C., & Tackett, J. L. (2023). Exploring Gender Differences in Leadership Aspirations: A Four-Year Longitudinal Study of College Students From Adverse Backgrounds. AERA Open, 9. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584231183665

Eating Disorders and Body Image

Shi X, Duck SA, Jansen E, Borsarini B, Blackwell CK, Li Y, Carnell S. Concurrent and prospective associations of social media usage with binge eating symptoms in early adolescence. Obesity. 2025 Feb;33(2):346-355. doi: 10.1002/oby.24199.

Smith, A. C., Ahuvia, I. L., Zapata, J. P., Cohen, K. A., Graham, A. K., & Schleider, J. L. (2025). Randomized trial of a digital single-session intervention for body image and mood concerns among LGBTQ+ adolescents. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 193, 104809. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2025.104809 

Sleep and Circadian Rhythms

Walsh, R. F. L., Maddox, M. A., Smith, L. T., Olino, T., Zee, P. C., Nusslock, R., & Alloy, L. B. (2025). Sleep regularity in adolescents: Associations with sleep, rest-activity indices, and prospective substance use and depression. Journal of sleep research, e14468. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.14468

Xia, T., Chen, D., Zeng, S., Yao, Z., Liu, J., Qin, S., Paller, K. A., Torres Platas, S. G., Antony, J. W., & Hu, X. (2024). Aversive memories can be weakened during human sleep via the reactivation of positive interfering memories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 121(31), e2400678121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2400678121

Peer, Family, and Romantic Relationships and Well-Being

Eastwick, P. W., Joel, S., Carswell, K. L., Molden, D. C., Finkel, E. J., & Blozis, S. A. (2022). Predicting romantic interest during early relationship development: A preregistered investigation using machine learning. European Journal of Personality, 37(3), 276-312. https://doi.org/10.1177/08902070221085877

Li, X., Hathaway, C. A., Small, B. J., Tometich, D. B., Gudenkauf, L. M., Hoogland, A. I., Fox, R. S., Victorson, D. E., Salsman, J. M., Gonzalez, B. D., Jim, H. S. L., Siegel, E. M., Tworoger, S. S., & Oswald, L. B. (2024). Social isolation, depression, and anxiety among young adult cancer survivors: The mediating role of social connectedness. Cancer, 130(23), 4127–4137. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.35508

Roulston, C. A., Ahuvia, I., Chen, S., Fassler, J., Fox, K., & Schleider, J. L. (2025). "My family won't let me." Adolescent-reported barriers to accessing mental health care. Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence, 35(1), e70013. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.70013

Adewale, C. A., Heffernan, M. E., Bendelow, A., & Rahmandar, M. H. (2023). What Parents Are Missing: Parental Knowledge of Adult-Use Cannabis Legislation and Health Effects, and Communication with Adolescents. Substance Use & Misuse, 59(1), 154–157. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2023.2267092

Reward Sensitivity

Nusslock, R., Mittal, V., & Alloy, L.B. (2025). Reward processing in mood disorders and schizophrenia: A neurodevelopmental framework. Annual Reviews of Clinical Psychology, 21, 557-584. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-080822-041621

Maddox, M.A., Walsh, R.F.L., Smith, L.T., Olino, T., Zee, P.C., Nusslock, R., & Alloy, L.B. (2025). Reward sensitivity, pubertal development, and circadian rhythms: A window into adolescent risk for depressive symptoms. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-025-02224-6