School of Social Policy & Practice
Founded as one of the nation's earliest schools of social work in the United States, the School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) has trained social work professionals for over 110 years. In the 21st century, its scope expanded to include public policy and nonprofit leadership as natural extensions of applied social research. Today, SP2 offers masters programs in social work, public policy, and nonprofit leadership; doctoral programs in social welfare and clinical social work, and a wide range of certificate programs and specializations. The school is home to several research centers, including the Center for Carceral Communities, the Center for Guaranteed Income Research, the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, the Center for Social Impact Strategy, the Center for Social Mobility and Prosperity, the Field Center for Children's Policy, Practice and Research, and the Ortner Center on Violence and Abuse. Faculty and graduate work is rooted in social justice, community care, and advancing equity-based policies worldwide.
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Publication DYSFUNCTIONAL INDIVIDUATION POST EMERGING ADULTHOOD(2025-05-19) Gardner, SusanABSTRACT DYSFUNCTIONAL INDIVIDUATION POST EMERGING ADULTHOOD Susan M Gardner Dr. Shimrit Keddem Dysfunctional individuation describes the maladaptive outcomes for identity, autonomy and relatedness following the separation-individuation processes, which is an iterative developmental process that is initiated by biographical transitions. Identity, autonomy and relatedness are the three domains of individuation. These domains are interrelated and work together to support psychological wellbeing. Minimal research has explored the presentation of dysfunctional individuation for adults after emerging adulthood. This study used qualitative and quantitative methods including descriptive-interpretive analysis to develop knowledge into how adults (N=148) in a US population over the age of 30 describe their identity, autonomy and relatedness, and how these descriptions vary by severity of dysfunctional individuation. Identity, autonomy and relatedness were described through statements related to the participants’ meaning making, outcomes of prior processes, traits and skills. As level of dysfunctional individuation increased, participants tended to offer more negative descriptions of domains, increased statements about domain non-achievement and reported higher numbers of references to maladaptive inter-relatedness amongst the domains. This study validates the continued impact of dysfunctional individuation throughout the life cycle. Clinical understanding of how the domains interact supports focused efforts to select or develop interventions that build on current functional domains, renegotiate maladaptive inter-relatedness of domains, and/or repair dysfunctional domains. Future research should continue to develop insight into the presentation and treatment of dysfunctional individuation across the life cycle. Keywords: Dysfunctional individuation, separation-individuation, identity, autonomy, relatedness, meaning makingPublication Coming to Terms with Our Routes: The Impact of Family Estrangement on Asian American Identity(2025) Sullivan, SuMingEstrangement is a prevalent and understudied phenomenon, particularly in the Asian American diaspora. Research on Asian American families often frames intergenerational conflict as a cultural clash between assimilated youth and unassimilated elders, reinforcing essentialized views of Asian identity and obfuscating the broader sociopolitical contexts in which these relationships unfold. While cultural identity has been widely problematized, “culture” continues to be utilized as a reductive explanation for complex family dynamics. This study used reflexive thematic analysis to examine 30 in-depth interviews with Asian Americans who experienced family estrangement. Analysis focused on how participants discussed family ruptures, particularly the ways in which culture and identity were deployed. Findings highlighted how participants both challenged and reproduced racialized stereotypes, sometimes using essentialized identifications as a protective strategy. This led to the experience of double displacement, whereby essentialization left participants with a sense of belonging nowhere, neither to the U.S., where they were often subjected to the perpetual foreigner stereotype, nor to the Asian American diaspora. Participants engaged in meaning-making and identity reconstruction through transitional (racial) spaces, relationships with peers, therapists, online communities, and creative practices. Implications include the need for culturally attuned, anti-essentialist clinical and methodological approaches that recognize the impact of intergenerational trauma, racialization, and sociopolitical context on family estrangement and identity. The findings suggest that scholars and clinicians need to develop agility and a critical lens to balance honoring and prioritizing felt experiences as they are described while also being willing to challenge rigid identity constructions that unintentionally reify racist stereotypes.Publication EXAMINING THE RELATIONNSHIP BETWEEN DISCRIMINATION, RESILIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN HIJABI WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES(2025-05-19) Kofoworola OwonikokoABSTRACT Objective: This study examined the psychological well-being of women of sub-Saharan African ancestry who wear the Islamic head covering, called hijab (so-called hijabi women) in the United States. The study focused on perceived discrimination, resilience, and psychological well-being of this group. The population under study faced distinctive challenges in the context of intersectionality amidst rising anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments in the US. Methods: The study is quantitative research, with cross-sectional design. The number of participants is N=155. Data were collected using Google Forms from women 18 years old and above, using the Anti-Muslim Discrimination Scale, Transcultural Resilience Scale and the Psychological (Distress and psychological) Scale. Employing network and convenience sampling approaches, diverse experiences were captured within this demographic group. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 21 and SPSS-Amos for structural equation modeling. Descriptive, bivariate, and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationships between variables. Results: This study demonstrated that perceived discrimination (Interpersonal and Societal) negatively impacted psychological well-being (Life satisfaction and Distress). The study found a substantial link between societal and interpersonal discrimination (r =0.53, p=0.01). Transcultural resilience mediated between societal discrimination and life-satisfaction. Resilience across cultures was shown to be positively correlated with life satisfaction (B = 0.33, p <.001) but insignificant in predicting distress. As not all hypotheses were proven, the conclusion is that this study was partially supported. Implication: This study filled a critical research gap and provided important objective data and insights to assist in combating discriminatory policies and also identified culturally responsive interventions. The adoption and implementation of the findings will promote equitable and fair practices that uphold human dignities, leading to improved well-being of sub-Saharan African hijabi women living in the United States.Publication Examining the Impact of Intrafamilial Adversity on Emotion Regulation in Sexual and Gender Minority People in Southwest Alabama(2025) Mary Barrett SmithThis dissertation explores the relationship between general childhood adversity, identity-based invalidation, and emotional dysregulation among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals in Southwest Alabama. Grounded in the Minority Stress Model (Brooks, 1981; Meyer, 2003), the Traumatic Invalidation Framework (Cardona et al., 2022), and the Transactional Model of Emotion Dysregulation (Fruzetti et al., 2005), the study tests three primary hypotheses: (1) a positive association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and identity-based adversities (ID-Adversities), (2) an association between ACEs and emotional dysregulation, and (3) an association between ID-Adversities and emotional dysregulation. This study is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected through the Southwest Alabama Inclusion Project’s LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessment. Participants (N = 488), ranging in age from 13 to 82 and representing a wide spectrum of sexual and gender identities, completed a survey that included measures of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), identity-based adversity (ID-Adversity), and emotional dysregulation using the DERS-SF. One-way ANOVA confirmed that ACEs were positively associated with ID-Adversity; multiple linear regressions confirmed that both ACEs and ID-Adversity independently predicted higher levels of emotional dysregulation. Post hoc analyses revealed developmental variation: identity-based adversity had the strongest effect among adolescents (13–17), ACEs were most predictive among emerging adults (18–24), and for adults 25 and older, lower household income emerged as the most robust predictor of dysregulation. Transgender boys and men reported significantly more ACEs than their cisgender peers, highlighting compounded risk among multiply marginalized subgroups. Findings underscore the cumulative, shifting nature of adversity across development and point to the embeddedness of psychological risk in structural and socioeconomic contexts. Policy and clinical implications include the need for trauma-informed, identity-affirming mental health services; caregiver education programs; and systemic reforms to reduce stigma, poverty, and exclusion of SGM individuals across the life course. Key words: sexual and gender minority, mental health, emotion regulation, parenting, identity-based adversity, adverse childhood experiencesPublication Examining the Impact of Intrafamilial Adversity on Emotion Regulation in Sexual and Gender Minority People in Southwest Alabama(2025-01-01) Mary Barrett SmithThis dissertation explores the relationship between general childhood adversity, identity-based invalidation, and emotional dysregulation among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals in Southwest Alabama. Grounded in the Minority Stress Model (Brooks, 1981; Meyer, 2003), the Traumatic Invalidation Framework (Cardona et al., 2022), and the Transactional Model of Emotion Dysregulation (Fruzetti et al., 2005), the study tests three primary hypotheses: (1) a positive association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and identity-based adversities (ID-Adversities), (2) an association between ACEs and emotional dysregulation, and (3) an association between ID-Adversities and emotional dysregulation. This study is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected through the Southwest Alabama Inclusion Project’s LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessment. Participants (N = 488), ranging in age from 13 to 82 and representing a wide spectrum of sexual and gender identities, completed a survey that included measures of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), identity-based adversity (ID-Adversity), and emotional dysregulation using the DERS-SF. One-way ANOVA confirmed that ACEs were positively associated with ID-Adversity; multiple linear regressions confirmed that both ACEs and ID-Adversity independently predicted higher levels of emotional dysregulation. Post hoc analyses revealed developmental variation: identity-based adversity had the strongest effect among adolescents (13–17), ACEs were most predictive among emerging adults (18–24), and for adults 25 and older, lower household income emerged as the most robust predictor of dysregulation. Transgender boys and men reported significantly more ACEs than their cisgender peers, highlighting compounded risk among multiply marginalized subgroups. Findings underscore the cumulative, shifting nature of adversity across development and point to the embeddedness of psychological risk in structural and socioeconomic contexts. Policy and clinical implications include the need for trauma-informed, identity-affirming mental health services; caregiver education programs; and systemic reforms to reduce stigma, poverty, and exclusion of SGM individuals across the life course. Key words: sexual and gender minority, mental health, emotion regulation, parenting, identity-based adversity, adverse childhood experiencesPublication From Classical and Patriarchal to Relational and Queer: Histories and Theories of Psychoanalysis(2025-05-19) Nugent, JeanneAbstract This two-paper study investigates the historical and conceptual contexts of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, focusing on queer identity, sexuality, and gender. It examines the historiography and metapsychology of psychoanalysis to highlight the marginalized status of lesbian, gay, transgender, and gender non-conforming (LGBTGNC) people within the structure of the discipline itself. Part one explores the transmission of Freud’s foundational concepts through the leading histories of the movement over the past 125 years. It begins with Freud’s historical narratives about the movement and then traces the conditions that shaped the post-Freudian schools through subsequent chronicles. These historiographic sources document the impact of the end of the Victorian era, the World Wars, migration, Cold War politics, and social change movements within both progressive and regressive developments. Notably, most canonical texts ignore queer identity, gender, and sexuality within the overarching narrative. Part two evaluates the contributions of post-Freudian schools to metapsychology, starting with Freud’s Topographic and Structural models and tracing subsequent contributions from Ego psychology, Relational psychoanalysis, and Self Psychology. These schools decentered sexuality, leaving questions of queer (and non-queer) identity, gender, and sexuality under-theorized. The study concludes with a reconsideration of psychosexuality, dual-drive theory, innate polysexuality, and oedipal complexity as keys to a renewed psychoanalysis with queer people in mind, useful for the formulation of a new metapsychology relevant to a more fluid analysis of identity, gender, and sexuality today. Keywords: queer psychoanalysis, psychotherapy, LGBTQ+, metapsychology, Oedipus complex, Freud, Ego Psychology, Self Psychology, Relational Psychoanalysis, history of psychoanalysisPublication WHEN THE COUCH IS NOT JUST THE COUCH—GAY MEN THERAPISTS’ EXPERIENCES IN THE EROTIC TRANSFERENCE/COUNTER TRANSFERENCE MATRIX: A REFLEXIVE THEMATIC ANALYSIS(2025-04-25) Burner, Christopher A.Minimal research has explored the erotic transference-countertransference matrix when both therapist and client identify as the same gender and sexual orientation (Davies, 1994; Sherman, 2002). In an effort to interrogate how therapist and client might be interacting in the intersubjective space, the purpose of this study was to explore the following question: What are the experiences of therapists who are gay men in working with erotic transference-countertransference dynamics with gay men patients of a different race? I conducted a reflexive thematic analysis (RTA)—within the relativist variation of TA—typified by a recursive and iterative process and composed across six phases for seven (n=7) participant interviewees. In answering the research question, the findings show that homoerotic transference and counter transference dynamics serve a function, that racialized transferences and counter transferences were harder to reconcile than those of the erotic, how Whiteness creates impasses in the therapeutic relationship through racialized fetishizations and direct prejudicial attacks, and how the participants navigate a process of using their own anxiety to construct dyadic boundaries, in addition to sublimating the racialized and erotic into more socially acceptable modes of positive counter transferences. This study’s results suggest that social workers engage in advocacy and social justice efforts for those voices that are absent, discouraged, rejected, and even contested, for it is precisely these voices that help generate knowledge that informs our practices, teaching, and research. Key words: erotic counter transference/transference, limit consent, normative unconscious processes, minority stress theory, sexual racism, intersectionalityPublication Validation of the Chinese Version of the Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS-C) among Perinatal Chinese Immigrant Women(2025) Su, Grace ShixinObjective: Despite the prevalence of perinatal anxiety and the maternal health crisis, underdiagnosis is an ongoing issue as women are not being properly screened for anxiety at their perinatal health visits. Asian immigrant mothers may be at higher risk for untreated perinatal mental health issues, including perinatal anxiety, due to the lack of perinatal screening tools developed specifically for this population. The Perinatal Anxiety Screening Scale (PASS) has been shown to be an acceptable measure for detecting anxiety disorder symptoms. While the PASS had been translated into Simplified Chinese and validated against a group of perinatal mothers in China, it had not been tested for validity and reliability for perinatal Chinese immigrant mothers in the U.S. The current study examined the validity and reliability of the adapted Chinese version of the PASS (i.e., PASS-C) when used among Chinese-speaking perinatal mothers aged 18-45. Methods: This study used a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. Data was collected twice, two weeks apart (Time 1 and Time 2), through participant self-reporting via an online survey through Qualtrics. A sample of N = 255 completed Time 1 survey and n = 85 completed Time 2 survey. All participants were U.S.-based first-generation and 1.5-generation ethnic Chinese immigrant women between 18 to 45 years of age, able to read either Simplified or Traditional Chinese, and between 20 completed weeks of gestation and up to 1 year after childbirth. The Time 1 survey included the adapted PASS-C, a set of sociodemographic questions, and additional measures, including translated Chinese versions of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) for convergent validity and the Hypomania Checklist 32 (HCL-32) for discriminant validity. The Time 2 survey included only the PASS-C and was used to assess the scale's test-retest reliability. Results: Findings showed the PASS-C to be an acceptable measure in identifying perinatal anxiety symptoms among Chinese-speaking perinatal mothers. The PASS-C demonstrated very good test-retest reliability in both antenatal and postnatal mothers and across both Traditional and Simplified Chinese language versions. Results demonstrated good internal reliability of the PASS-C in both Traditional Chinese (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.95) and Simplified Chinese (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.97) language versions. Further, the PASS-C and its Acute Anxiety and Adjustment subscale demonstrated very good convergent validity with the overall DASS-21 and DASS Anxiety scores. Results demonstrated acceptable convergent validity with the remaining PASS-C subscales: Excessive Worry and Specific Fears; Perfectionism, Control and Trauma; and Social Anxiety. The PASS-C also demonstrated good discriminant validity with the HCL-32 across all its subscales. Conclusion: The development and validation of culturally and linguistically responsive mental health screening tools are necessary to address mental health disparities and increase access to care for Asian immigrant mothers and their families. The validation of the PASS-C is a step toward increasing health equity and resources for Chinese immigrant mothers who may be at risk of underdiagnosis and untreated perinatal anxiety.Publication Friendship in Transition: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Role of Peer Support on Student Service Members and Veterans(2025-05-19) Moore, Dylan AnthonyFriendship serves as a vital pillar of academic success, providing crucial support and fostering resilience among college students. For student service members and veterans (SSM/V), the transition to college life presents unique challenges that can hinder their ability to form these vital connections. While the importance of friendship is well-documented for traditional college students, there is limited research on how SSM/V experience friendship during their academic transition. This qualitative investigation aims to explore the role of friendship in SSM/V journey from military service to college life through semi-structured interviews with 10 participants. An interpretative phenomenological analysis, informed by the theoretical framework of Self-Psychology and Veteran Critical Theory, was conducted to interpret these narratives. The findings reveal four key themes: a) friendships as a valuable support system in the transition to college life, b) friendship dynamics and experiences within the college environment, c) navigating unique considerations when establishing friendships, and d) barriers to friendship-building. The study highlights how friendships contribute to SSM/V adaptation to college life and academic success. Recommendations include fostering collaboration among faculty, staff, administrators, and veteran resource centers to develop targeted programs that facilitate friendship-building, such as social events and peer mentoring initiatives. Additionally, universities should prioritize creating inclusive environments that encourage interaction between SSM/V and their civilian peers. This research also calls for further studies on the unique experience of SSM/V in building and maintaining meaningful relationships.Publication Psychosocial Predictors of Disordered Eating in Adolescents with Celiac Disease: Body Image Dissatisfaction, Anxiety, Depression, and Family Eating Environment(2025-05-19) Rowen, KaitlinPurpose/Objective: Research suggests a high prevalence of disordered eating in adolescents with celiac disease, however research on vulnerability factors is limited. To address this gap, this study tested the hypothesis that a higher level of body image dissatisfaction, greater severity of anxiety symptoms, greater severity of depression symptoms, and poorer quality of family eating environment predicts greater disordered eating behaviors, attitudes, and feelings in U.S. adolescents with celiac disease. Methods: A correlational design with a nonprobability convenience sample of N = 187 was used. Participants were U.S. adolescents, 13 to 18 years old, with celiac disease. Data was collected via a one-time, online survey. Measures included Celiac Dietary Adherence Test, Eating Attitudes Test-26, Appearance and Weight subscales of the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults, Depression and Anxiety subscales of the Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-25, and Family Eating Habits survey. Multiple and logistic regression analyses were used to test hypotheses. Results: Findings partially supported the hypothesis, indicating a higher level of body image dissatisfaction (measured as weight dissatisfaction), greater severity of depression symptoms, and poorer quality of the family eating environment (measured as atmosphere) predicted greater disordered eating behaviors, attitudes, and feelings when measured as 1. dieting; 2. bulimia and food preoccupation; and 3. composite of behaviors, attitudes, and feelings about dieting, bulimia and food preoccupation, and oral control. No differences in disordered eating were found among groups defined by race, body mass index, or co-occurring diet and health related conditions. Post-hoc analysis indicated that transgender males scored significantly higher than cisgender males on disordered eating behaviors, attitudes, and feelings regarding dieting. However, no other gender group differences were significant under Bonferroni cutoff. Conclusions: Filling a research critical gap, results enhanced understanding of potential psychosocial vulnerabilities for disordered eating in adolescents with celiac disease. Clinical recommendations are made for targeted assessments and individual and family-based interventions that allow for early detection, treatment, and prevention of disordered eating in this high-risk population.