Behavioral Sciences
Research Groups in this section:
Psychology: Psychological
Services Center | Child
Study Center | Center
for Applied Behavior Systems | Center
for Research in Health Behavior
Public Health and Policy: Center
for Family Services | Center
for Gerontology | Institute
for Community Health | Center for Marketing
and Consumer Health
Department of Psychology — In the clinical psychology program, faculty members’ research specializations include assessment of mental health functioning, treatment of mental health problems, addictions, neuropsychology, promotion of mental health, coping with illness, and relationships between health and mental health. In the psychological sciences program, faculty members study infant and child development, parent-infant relationships, cognitive and physiological functioning, emotional development, and psychological approaches to the regulation of pain. Mental health treatment research focuses on children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. The majority of the research is conducted through departmental research centers funded by national and state agencies. Contact: Robert Stephens, department chair, (540) 231-6581.
Psychological Services Center — The center is a community-based training facility for the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology. The primary purpose of the center is to provide an environment for the training of graduate students. Research is aimed at treatment effectiveness. Primary projects now include group treatment of offenders with dual diagnosis, a manual-based group treatment for anger control, and a school-based group intervention for aggressive adolescents, provided to the local school system under the supervision of two faculty members. Contact: Lee Cooper, (540) 231-6914.
Child Study Center — The center is a research, training, and service facility that is engaged in clinical and research projects. Primary projects include studies on 1) emotion regulation in aggressive children, 2) teasing and bullying in middle school children, 3) the long-term outcomes of at-risk children and adolescents who display aggressive and/or socially withdrawn behavior, 4) cross-cultural work on fears, anxiety, and depression in children and adolescents, 5) reactions of children and adolescents to residential fires, and 6) the assessment and treatment of children's phobias. Funding is from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Contact: Thomas Ollendick, University Distinguished Professor, (540) 231-8276.
Center for Applied Behavior Systems — (CABS) The center's behavioral-science research is community or organization based and intervention focused. The researchers develop and evaluate treatment programs for organizational and community settings to improve behaviors related to public health and safety. Projects address the reduction of alcohol use and abuse among university students, red-light running, vehicle safety, pedestrian safety, child safety-seat use, road rage, and industrial injuries and fatalities. The researchers have also addressed the issue of environmental protection by motivating people to recycle, car pool, use trash receptacles, and conserve water and electricity. Recent research funding has been provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Contact: E. Scott Geller, (540) 231-8145.
Center for Research in Health Behavior (CRHB) — The center conducts theoretically based research primarily focusing on disease prevention and health promotion using a number of empirically based intervention strategies. The CRHB actively involves clinical psychology graduate students in its research and prepares them for careers in health behavior, prevention, and clinical research. CRHB receives funding primarily from NIH. Contact: Richard A. Winett, (540) 231-8747.
Also see the Psychology Department site for more information on research labs and special interest groups.
Center for Family Services — The Department of Human Development's Marriage and Family Therapy program operates clinics at the Northern Virginia Center in Falls Church (www.nvgc.vt.edu/mft/clinical_whatwedo.html) and in Blacksburg near Virginia Tech's main campus. The Northern Virginia clinic is a training facility for master's degree students. The Family Therapy Center in Blacksburg is a training facility for doctoral students. The center provides individual, couple, group, and family therapy. Researchers are determining predictors of family violence and developing a treatment approach to prevent domestic violence. Research funding is from Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service. Contacts: In Northern Virginia, Eric E. McCollum, director, (703) 538-8470. In Blacksburg, Scott Johnson, (540) 231-7201.
Center for Gerontology — The center fosters and facilitates research that enhances the quality of life of older adults. Faculty members research relationships in later life and health aspects of aging. Recent projects have focused on health and community service use by rural older adults and their families, coping with chronic illness (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, chronic pain), health care decision-making, work force retention in long-term care, quality care indicators for community-based services for older adults, elder abuse, and public guardianship. Sponsors are the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services and NIH. Contact: Karen A. Roberto, (540) 231-7657.
Institute for Community Health (ICH) — The institute supports communities in their attempts to become responsible for their own health care. ICH works with citizens, nonprofit organizations, community decision makers, and health care providers to improve the health of individuals and families through initiatives specific to a community's needs. ICH helps citizens recognize and organize local resources that already exist and, when needed, provides technical assistance. Research funding is from the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Department of Social Services. Contact: James R. Bohland, Southwest Virginia,(540) 231-5517, or Northern Virginia, (703) 518-2704.
Center for Consumer Health Research — The group seeks to apply marketing theories and methods to improve consumer health. Researchers examine a wide range of issues, particularly at the interface of consumer decision-making, technology, and public and social policy. Currently, faculty members are studying decision making competence and adolescents‚ perceptions of risky behaviors, strategies to improve a consumer's ability to make informed health-related decisions, and the development and delivery of health information through electronic media to consumers at risk of cardiovascular disease and low-income women at nutritional risk. Policy issues being studied include the decision-process related to the use of environmental pollutants in wood products, strategies for promoting safe use by consumers of new technology in automobiles, and the impact of consumer illiteracy on their well-being in this new information-intensive time. Funding is from the National Highway and Safety Administration, Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology, and the USDA. Contact: David Brinberg, group leader, (540) 231-7639, or Kent Nakamoto, marketing department head, (540) 231-6949.
