STREALTH is a translational, interdisciplinary research laboratory that investigates the role life stress (acute and chronic) and subjective -- self-related - processes in health and illness, both mental and physical. Stress is probably the most serious environmental risk factor for physical and mental illness. The self-concept pertains to the way we experience, think and feel about ourselves. Both stress and self-concept research stands at the crossroad of basic psychological science and the health sciences. Examines the role of stress and self as risk factors for physical and mental disorders and illnesses, including depression, dissociation, eating disorders, psychosis, pain, nd pregnancy-related distress
2. Delineates the role of stress and the self in health-related
behavior such as exercise, smoking, and alcohol consumption
3. Examines the reciprocal relationships between stress and self. To realize our mission, we utilize a host of research methodologies borrowed from psychological science developmental and experimental psychopathology, epidemiology and public health, and medical sociology. These methodologies include: prospective-longitudinal designs and causal modeling techniques, multi-level modeling, Laboratory experiments, and qualitative analyses. Our theoretical approach is highly life-span developmental, drawing from human-ecological and eco-developmental theories, and risk-resilience theory. Our developmental focus is on the 2nd and 3rd decade in life, namely, on adolescents and young adults.
