Alumni Accomplishments: Jessica H. Mirman, PhD

Fordham Psychology ADP alumna, Jessica H. Mirman, PhD, recently had a paper published in JAMA Ped about her research on teen drivers. The paper describes the results of a randomized controlled trial to test the effect of a parenting intervention on parents' supervision of pre-licensed teen drivers.

The intervention, developed by Dr. Mirman and her colleagues, called TeenDrivingPlan (TDP), is the first to successfully demonstrate that parents can be trained to be more effective practice supervisors and that this supervision is directly linked to teens' skill acquisition.

More information can be found on Dr. Mirman's blog post announcement.

Applied Developmental Psychology Student Wins 2014 APA Division 52 Student International Research Award

Sheena Jeswani, Applied Developmental Psychology, is one of four students awarded the 2014 APA Division 52 Student International Research Award, which recognizes promising graduate student research in international psychology.

Sheena submitted her Master's thesis, which focuses on social support, coping strategies, well-being, and depression in Filipino and American college students.

Congratulations, Sheena!

Marital Satisfaction Paper Selected as Editor's Choice

The Journal of Gerontology: Social Science has selected a collaborative paper by faculty members of the Fordham University Department of Psychology, the Jewish Home Lifecare's Research Institute on Aging at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Rutgers University Department of Sociology as Editor's Choice for their most recent issue.

Dr. Daniela Jopp, Dr. Laura Sosinsky, and Dr. Se-Kang Kim contributed to the article entitled: "His" and "Her" Marriage? The Role of Positive and Negative Marital Characteristics in Global Marital Satisfaction Among Older Adults.

Dr. Jopp was also recently featured in a CBS2 New York news segment on longevity and aging.

Congratulations to all involved!

Dr. Jopp's Centenarian Research Featured In The New York Times

Daniela S. Jopp, Ph.D. was recently interviewed for an article published in The New York Times about the Fordham Centenarian Study, a research projected directed by Dr. Jopp on the characteristics and experiences of people who approach 100 years of age.

Dr. Jopp discusses some of the main findings of her work, which indicates that people approaching 100 years of age tend to have a positive attitude despite having “on average between four and five illnesses, which are pretty disabling and hinder them from doing the things they want to do.”  Dr. Jopp’s work suggests that the key is their ability to accept and adapt to their impairments. Very old individuals also tend to be extroverted, have strong social networks, and exhibit “self-efficacy,” which is a feeling that they are in control of their own lives. Dr. Jopp also discusses a new phenomenon where, due to longer life expectancies, some parents and children are experiencing old age together, which can create unique challenges for a family.

The full article can be read on The New York Times website here.

Dr. Jopp is Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Applied Developmental Program and the head of the Adult Developmental and Aging Lab and the Fordham Centenarian Study.

A Call to Advocacy: The Past, Present, and Future of Child Well-Being

  The Future Child Advocates of Fordham presents:

A Call to Advocacy: The Past, Present, and Future of Child Well-Being

Wednesday, April 23, 2014  |  8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

1st Floor Auditorium | Keating Hall | Rose Hill Campus
441 East Fordham Road | Fordham University | NYC

Join members of the Future Child Advocates of Fordham (FCAF) for a multi-disciplinary conference with some of the country’s renowned childcare professionals who will discuss and examine the intersection of social, legal, psychological, and medical approaches to protecting vulnerable youth. Speakers will include:

•    Michael Menconi, FCRH ’15, Founder, President, Future Child Advocates of Fordham, Co-Founder, Future Child Advocates of America

•    Joshua L. Brown, PhD, Faculty Advisor, Future Child Advocates of Fordham, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Fordham University

•    Bernard P. Dreyer, MD, FAAP, Professor, Director of Behavioral Developmental, Pediatrics, NYU Langone Medical Center, Director of Pediatrics, Bellevue Hospital Center, Co-Chair of the Academic Pediatric Association Force on Child Poverty

•    Linda Cahill, MD, FAAP, Medical Director, J.E. & Z.B. Butler Child Advocacy Center, The Children’s Hospital at Montefiore, Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

•    Christine Deyss, MS, Executive Director, Prevent Child Abuse New York

FCAF is a collaboration between J.E. & Z.B. Butler Child Advocacy Center of the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore and Fordham University’s Department of Psychology uses a social justice approach to ending the vicious cycle of child abuse in the Bronx and across America. As a completely student-run organization, FCAF’s primary goals include fundraising for local child advocacy centers, and providing direct emotional and social support to child abuse victims throughout New York City.

The conference is open to the public. A Q&A session will follow the speakers.
RSVP to the event at futurechild@fordham.edu
Facebook.com/FCAFordham | Futurechildadvocates.org

Fordham Coalition Forms to Advocate for Better Understanding of Autism

By Chris Gosier

A coalition of Fordham professors, students, and administrators has come together around the goal of improving the lives of autistic people by changing the way they're treated in American society.

It’s a long-brewing effort that made strides in November 2013 with a conference among Fordham researchers, educators, and representatives of advocacy groups from outside the University. Next up are more conferences, research, and efforts to change policies and attitudes surrounding the capabilities of autistic people and how they can best be helped.

The full article can be read here on Inside Fordham.

Applied Developmental Psychology Student Interviewed for Psychology Today

Amanda Leeder, Applied Developmental Psychology, was recently interviewed for an article entitled “Quantifying Engagement in Autism Education Models,” published online on the Breaking Barriers blog of Psychology Today magazine. Amanda was one of several experts invited to contribute to an article focusing on the use of empirical data to evaluate and improve current teaching methods, educational programs, and therapeutic interventions developed for students with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Amanda was interviewed about her expertise with researching and implementing therapeutic interventions for ASD in home and school settings. She discussed the necessity for the fields of psychology and education to rely on the integrity of scientific research for evaluation of the utility and efficacy of therapeutic interventions and education programs. However, the development of evidenced-based practices for ASD has been limited.

“While it is no surprise that the term ‘evidenced-based practice’ holds a lot of weight, the evaluation of educational interventions for the ASD population is still in its nascent stages, partly due to the challenge of quantifying implementation practices and goals for these learners.”

Amanda said the paucity of research that is considered valid and reliable can be a problem and misguide families seeking effective treatment and education programs for a child with ASD.

“Many families of individuals with autism assume that a particular approach will be successful for their child, based on anecdotal evidence, case studies, or because an approach is ‘evidence based’. While in twenty years this term will be a reliable indicator of which school parents should enroll their child, the current state of research on autism education does not allow for this approach.”

She concluded the interview with a recommendation for families with a child who is currently in need of these services.

“The best bet for families right now is to comprehensively research what therapies and educational approaches are out there, and try to seek out professionals and experts in the field who will give them unbiased answers about autism education.”

Amanda came to Fordham after obtaining a Masters degree in general psychology from New York University. She plans to complete her dissertation on the role that non-ASD siblings play in ASD children's development. She is also completing her practicum at Emerge & See Education Center in Manhattan, where she works with therapists to develop new methods to teach basic conversation skills to children with ASD.

The full article can be read on the Psychology Today website.