Research Interests
My research concerns the connections between individual psychology and social structure. I am particularly interested in the ways in which our positions in the social structure (specifically with respect to gender and social class, and also with respect to disability), and at particular historical moments, shape our individual psychological experiences.
I have pursued these interests in the domains of women's midlife personality development, socioeconomic status and health, social class and the college experience, and relationships between people with disabilities and non-disabled people.
I am currently working on projects related to how social class background shapes people's experiences at college, on how processes of comparing ourselves to other people across the social hierarchy might be related to our physical health, and on how people build alliances across differences related to social identity. In collaboration with Professor Gina Oliva at Gallaudet University, I am working on a project about alliances between deaf/hard-of-hearing people and hearing people.