My research is focused on two main topic areas within the field of counseling/clinical psychology. First, I examine the predictors of psychopathology among sexual minority (LGBQ+) adults. I am interested in understanding how factors such as heterosexist discrimination, internalized stigma, emotion regulation, and community connectedness affect the mental health of sexual minority individuals, especially among groups that are overlooked in traditional sexual minority research (e.g., bisexual individuals, sexual minority women). Second, I investigate questions related to disordered eating, body size, and body image. Recently, I have been combining these two lines of research to examine predictors of disordered eating among sexual minority women. My research is primarily online survey-based, and I often use daily diary and other experience sampling methods. I prefer these methods because they allow me to observe key processes as they occur from day to day and to explore within-person variability in relations of interest.

Kase, C.A. & Mohr, J.J. (2020). Within-person predictors and outcomes of daily sexual orientation self-presentation among plurisexual women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 68, 156-167. (pdf)

Kase, C.A. & Mohr, J.J. (2021). The Fat Acceptance Scale: Development and initial validation. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 69, 311-325. (pdf)

Schaumberg, K, Schumacher, L.M., Rosenbaum, D.L., Kase, C.A., Piers, A.D., Lowe, M.R., Forman, E.M., & Butryn, M.L. (2016). The role of negative reinforcement eating expectancies in the relation between experiential avoidance and disinhibition. Eating Behaviors, 21, 129-134. (pdf)

· GPA of 3.3 or higher

· Completion of PSYC2241 (Statistical Methods)

· Preferred, but not required: Completion of PSYC3242 (Experimental Psychology)

· Preferred, but not required: Ability to commit to working in the lab for at least two semesters (academic credit is available)

· Preferred, but not required: Interest in pursuing a research-intensive graduate program (e.g., Counseling or Clinical Psychology PhD program)

Students will gain a wide variety of research skills, depending on the specific project. Skills that students may acquire include performing literature searches, designing studies, preparing IRB applications, developing recruitment materials, creating online surveys, managing data collection, and engaging in data cleaning, analysis, and interpretation using Excel, SPSS, Mplus, and Stata. Depending on their role, students may also serve as co-authors on conference presentations and manuscripts.

Students working in my lab are expected to:

· Dedicate a certain number of hours per week (usually between 5 and 10) to research tasks, as established during our initial meeting

· Promptly respond to email communications

· Regularly attend weekly or bi-weekly meetings (depending on the project) to discuss study progress

· Complete assigned tasks by the agreed-upon deadlines

· Behave ethically and professionally in all stages of the research process

 

If you are interested in working with me, email me at colleen.kase@stockton.edu. You are more likely to be accepted into the lab if you send your email well in advance of the semester you hope to join. In your email, please include the following information:

· Your complete name, Z number, program of study, GPA, and anticipated graduation date

· Why you are interested in becoming a research assistant in my lab in particular

· Whether you have completed PSYC2241 and PSYC3242, and if so, with which professors

· A copy of your resume

I enthusiastically accept students who wish to complete their Project for Distinction under my supervision. If you are interested, please email me with the information outlined in the “How to Apply” section above, as well as a general description of your topic of interest. We will meet to discuss whether your project is a good fit for my supervision. Topics that fall under my broad areas of interest (i.e., sexual minority mental health, disordered eating) and/or preferred methodologies (i.e., online survey-based correlational designs) are more likely to be accepted. If we decide that I am not a good fit to supervise your project, we can discuss which other professors might a better match for you.

 The SHINE Research Lab