Dr. Weymouth’s research cuts across family and developmental science to examine adolescent interpersonal and psychological functioning. Her specific areas of interest include adolescent social anxiety symptoms, adolescent substance use, and conflict in the family context. In several studies, Dr. Weymouth has examined parent-adolescent and interparental conflict and the implications of this conflict for adolescent behavioral, emotional, and social functioning, including social anxiety symptoms and substance use. Additionally, she has examined social anxiety symptoms as a risk mechanism for adolescent substance use and is extending this line of research to examine substance use among heterogeneous subgroups of youth with social anxiety symptoms. This research is supported by her methodology training and experience in structural equation modeling and latent profile/class analyses.
Research interests and areas of expertise:
- Adolescent development; social anxiety symptoms; substance use; parent-adolescent conflict; interparental conflict; parent-adolescent relationships; physiological stress reactivity
The SAFR Substance Use Research Lab broadly generates research on the implications of social anxiety and family relationships for a number of adolescent outcomes. Current research in the lab seeks to better understand the links between social anxiety and adolescent substance use (early initiation, greater use) and family influences (risk/protection) on these processes.
Other research interests include understanding how conflict in the family context affects adolescent social, emotional, and behavioral functioning.
