Academic Background
Wake Forest University
My research background began in social psychology, where I received undergraduate and graduate training. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree (with honors) from Wake Forest University. In my junior and senior years, I worked with my psychology honor’s program mentor, Dr. Eric Stone, to carry out a self-directed research project on personality variables associated with decision making in relationships. Through this experience, I independently contributed to every aspect of the research process: designing the study and articulating research questions; creating and finding measures; collecting, entering, and analyzing longitudinal data (2 time points); and presenting results (Wray & Stone, 2002). As I hypothesized, findings showed that individuals low in self-esteem and high in anxiety were less likely to take risks in romantic relationships themselves but were more likely to recommend risk-taking behaviors to others, compared to those high in self-esteem/low in anxiety. A second study suggested that the low self-esteem/high anxiety individuals took fewer personal risks due to feeling threatened by potential negative outcomes. Being involved in the research process was invaluable to me; finding hypothesized results, along with Dr. Stone’s mentoring, ignited my passion for research and motivated me to attend graduate school to pursue a research career. My commitment to the project and collaboration with Dr. Stone continued after I graduated, and we published the results of the two studies (Wray & Stone, 2005).
Bucknell University
Through my experience in a master’s program in Experimental Psychology at Bucknell University, I worked independently to conduct experimental and correlational studies, and I broadened my theoretical background in social, cognitive, developmental, and educational psychology. My master’s thesis, advised by Dr. Kimberly Daumban, integrated four studies that I conducted independently with undergraduate students to address linkages between values, political orientations, and environmental behaviors in the context of a social psychological theoretical framework (Wray & Daubman, 2004). Several interesting findings emerged: for example, beliefs in a worldview that technology will solve environmental problems and the best indicator of growth is economic were related to lower reported environmental behaviors. Higher values of materialism were also associated with lower environmental behaviors. This project left me with a fervent desire to further study the processes by which values guide behaviors.
Penn State University
Currently, I am a Doctoral Candidate and NIH-Predoctoral Fellow in Human Development and Family Studies at Penn State University. My research interests focus on the development of adolescents’ and young adults’ personal values and civic commitments (including political and community involvement). I am interested in the role of family socialization processes in civic development, and civic values of social responsibility as a substance use prevention tool. My expertise in statistical techniques, knowledge of developmental and life course principles, and understanding of family processes has grown tremendously during my graduate work.
I have optimized my training opportunities through participation in several research projects. I have actively participated in the Social Responsibility and Prevention Project led by my advisor and dissertation co-chair Dr. Constance Flanagan. The goal of this NIDA-funded three-year longitudinal study of adolescents, parents, and teachers is to understand adolescents’ social responsibility and willingness to intervene to reduce risky behavior of their friends. In a MacArthur Network-funded project led by Drs. Connie Flanagan and dissertation committee member Dr. Wayne Osgood, I have co-written a series of manuscripts documenting historical and developmental trends in young people’s values, attitudes, and behaviors using Monitoring the Future trend and panel data. I also served as a research assistant for several years on the Penn State Family Relationships Project led by Dr. Susan McHale and dissertation committee member and mentor Dr. Ann Crouter. On this NICHD-funded project, I learned a great deal about the data design, collection, and management, as well as the ways parenting, sibling, and other family processes can be illuminated through longitudinal, within-family comparisons.
I recently received a National Research Service Award from NIDA to examine the thesis that values of social responsibility, instilled in adolescents through parental value socialization, represent an important yet overlooked prevention strategy for reducing risk behaviors such as substance use. My dissertation, currently in progress, brings together three unique empirical examinations of social responsibility and substance use in developmental and family contexts. An additional part of my NIDA-funded training plan involves collaboration with grant co-sponsor and dissertation co-chair, Dr. Jennifer Maggs. I work on her NIAAA-funded project which examines lifespan British Cohort Study data to investigate early factors that amplify the risks related to substance use later in life.