Teen ST.A.R. Laboratory
College/University - Denton, TX, US
Teen ST.A.R. Laboratory Employees
Teen ST.A.R. Laboratory Details
Research Interests. Adolescence is characterized by increases in internalizing-type difficulties as well as the initiation of certain risk behaviors (e.g., experimentation with alcohol). Although most teens traverse this period with minimal difficulty, a significant minority develop problematic anxiety and substance use behaviors. It is this intersection of normative developmental experiences and clinically-relevant outcomes that the Teen ST.A.R. Laboratory is most interested in illuminating.Research Focus: We are interested in the developmental psychopathology of anxiety and substance use among adolescents and emerging adults. For example, we examine how individual difference factors (e.g., emotion regulation strategies) change across the period of adolescence and interact with contextual factors (e.g., facets of pubertal development; stressful events) to promote the incidence of anxiety, substance use, and their co-occurrence.Research Method: The Teen ST.A.R. Laboratory is an experimental psychopathology laboratory designed to study "real-time" anxious responding produced by analogue procedures such as the Trier Social Stress Test and voluntary hyperventilation. In addition, we gather self-report, short-term prospective, multi-informant, interview, and hormonal (via salivary sampling) data.Training Focus: The Teen ST.A.R. Laboratory is committed to the professional development of both undergraduate and graduate student team members. In addition to hands-on training and exposure to advanced research methodology, an emphasis is placed on building the skills and materials necessary for each student's "next step" following graduation. Undergraduate team members are expected to have some interest in pursuing graduate studies or advanced work in psychology or a related field, and graduate training is tailored to develop and hone the skills necessary to be competitive in the academic or non-academic research context.
