Directory

Center Research Associates

David Bridgett

Assistant Professor, Psychology
Ph.D., Washington State University
Department of Psychology
Lab Website
dbridgett1@niu.edu

My program of research focuses on identifying contributors to infant/toddler emotion regulation, such as aspects of parent emotion regulation and parenting, how parent emotion regulation affects parenting of young children and the broader family environment (e.g., marital adjustment, chaos), and how early individual differences in emotion regulation contribute to risk for early developmental psychopathology.

Julie Crouch

Director, CSFVSA
Ph.D., Northern Illinois University, 1995
Curriculum Vitae
jcrouch@niu.edu

My research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of child physical abuse and intimate partner violence. My recent work focuses on applying social cognitive paradigms as a means of understanding why some parents physically abuse their children. Also, I am conducting research and evaluation projects examining innovative interventions designed to promote positive parenting practices.

Michelle Lilly

Assistant Professor, Psychology
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2008
Department of Psychology
mlilly1@niu.edu

My research interests focus on the exploration of mental health outcomes following interpersonal trauma, with a particular focus on intimate partner violence. I am particularly interested in the ways in which world views, attachment and coping affect outcome following trauma. My future work will likely continue to focus on intimate partner violence, as well as expand to focus on interactions between violent dyads more generally.

Randy McCarthy

Postdoctoral Research Associate, CSFVSA
Ph.D., Northern Illinois University, 2012
rmccarthy3@niu.edu

The broad goal of my research is to understand the ways in which people interpret and process social information and how this may affect social interactions. The bulk of my social-cognition research has explored various aspects of non-conscious impression formation. Recently, I have been applying my skills as a social-cognitive researcher to understand the cognitive determinants of child physical abuse. The results of this research will hopefully inform empirically-derived interventions to reduce aggressive parenting behaviors.

Suvarna Menon

Postdoctoral Research Associate, CSFVSA
Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, 2019
smenon@niu.edu

My program of research focuses on the community response to family violence and the mental health consequences of trauma, particularly in terms of understanding trauma-related psychopathology following child maltreatment. I am also interested in the translational implications of my research for screening practices and community-based intervention and prevention programs for survivors of violence.

Joel Milner

Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Research Professor, Founding Director of the CSFVSA
Ph.D., Oklahoma State University, 1970
jmilner@niu.edu

My primary research activity has focused on the description and assessment of child physical abusers, child sexual abusers, and perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Ongoing research involves the testing of a Social Information Processing model of child physical abuse. Another line of research involves the development and testing of new interventions designed to treat caretakers who are at-risk of physically abusing their children.

Holly Orcutt

Professor, Psychology
Ph.D., SUNY-Buffalo, 1998
Department of Psychology
horcutt@niu.edu

My research interests are in the areas of traumatic stress and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Specifically, I am interested in identifying risk factors that operate to increase individual vulnerability to PTSD following exposure to traumatic events as well as factors that mediate the link between trauma exposure and increased risk for subsequent trauma exposure. I also have related research interests in forgiveness and experiential avoidance.

John Skowronski

Professor Emeritus, Distinguished Research Professor, Board of Trustees Research Professor
Ph.D., University of Iowa, 1984
Department of Psychology
jskowron@niu.edu

The bulk of my research has explored two broad areas. The first area revolves around social thought. I am interested in how we evaluate others, the trait and motives that we ascribe to them, and the kinds of things that we can remember about them. This research is often driven by theories that postulate various mental processes and mental structures, and is expressly designed to test these theories. In recent years, I have extensively explored the issue of whether people make spontaneous trait inferences about others and the ways in which such inferences can be detected.

The second main area in which I do research is self-thought. I am interested in how we evaluate ourselves, the traits and motives that we ascribe to ourselves, and the kinds of things that we remember about ourselves. This research is also driven by theories that postulate various mental processes and mental structures, and is expressly designed to test these theories. For example, in recent years I have explored whether self-judgments can be affected by temporary variations in construct accessibility and the extent to which the emotions that are prompted by recall of autobiographical events is moderated by social discourse.

David Valentiner

Professor, Psychology
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1994
Department of Psychology
Website
dvalentiner@niu.edu

My research examines cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal processes related to anxiety and anxiety disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Topics include: the process of fear reduction during exposure-based therapies for anxiety disorders and during natural recovery from trauma; clinical procedures, cognitive processes, and brain functioning involved in fear reduction and natural recovery; comorbitiy of post-traumatic stress disorder and problems with alcohol and other psychoactive substance; and prevention of anxiety and related disorders during adolescence.

Center Research Affiliates

Keri Burchfield

Associate Professor, Sociology
Ph.D., Penn State
Department of Sociology
kburchfield@niu.edu

My primary research interests focus on investigating the causes and consequences of local social control, specifically investigating neighborhood structural effects and the effects of community organization on crime prevention and control in urban communities. My recent research has also examined the sociological experiences of sex offenders, including their use of local social capital and social ties.

Fred E. Markowitz

Associate Professor, Sociology
Ph.D., State University of New York at Albany
Department of Sociology
fredm@niu.edu

My research focuses on issues related to crime, mental illness, and social control. I am especially interested in stigma and recovery from mental illness. I am currently conducting a study of punitive attitudes towards veterans with mental illness involved in domestic violence. My research has been published in American Journal of Sociology, Criminology, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly, and Journal of Family Violence.

Nina Mounts

Professor, Psychology
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1990
Department of Psychology
nmounts@niu.edu

My research focuses on parenting and peer relationships during adolescence. In particular, I have an interest in understanding the impact of harsh parenting and parent-child conflict on adolescents' peer relationships. My research also includes a consideration of social-cognition and physiological processes that contributes to the linkages between parenting and adolescents' peer relationships.