McNair Scholar 2022 Brittney Olivares
Brittney Olivares is a senior at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, majoring in psychology and minoring in developmental psychology. Her research interests include childhood adversity, resilience, parenting, and developmental psychopathology. Ms. Olivares plans on obtaining a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.
My dream is to obtain my Ph.D. in clinical psychology in order to study developmental psychopathology, as well as work directly with patients as a clinician. I would like to be involved in the creation of research and theory that influence how we as a society approach childhood mental health. I also hope to uplift others along my journey through mentorship– more specifically, I would like to mentor first-gen/underrepresented students like myself.
Research project
Negative mental health effects in youth exposed to interparental conflict: Does positive parenting serve as a buffer?
Abstract: Exposure to interparental conflict in childhood can increase the risk of developing internalizing mental health symptoms in adolescence. However, research has suggested that sensitive interactions with caregivers may buffer children from these negative developmental impacts. Using data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), a longitudinal study of children growing up in low-income rural contexts, we applied multiple regression analysis to test the extent to which the relation between interparental conflict exposure in childhood (ages 6mo to 12 years) and emotional problems in adolescence (age 13) was weaker for youth who experienced higher levels of maternal sensitivity. Our results indicated that interparental conflict exposure was significantly positively associated with increased internalizing symptoms. However, contrary to hypotheses, positive parenting did not statistically moderate the effect between exposure to interparental conflict and youth’s internalizing symptoms.
Faculty mentor
Daniel Berry is an Associate Professor of Developmental Psychology at the Institute of Child Development from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Dr. Berry attended Harvard University where he received his Ed.D. in Human Development and Psychology. His research specializes in the development and social contexts of self-regulation in early childhood. He has had the pleasure of serving as a McNair mentor for the last two summers.
Meriah DeJoseph is a developmental psychology Ph.D. student and Ford Predoctoral Fellow at the University of Minnesota. She received her B.S. in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego, and her M.A. in psychology from Columbia University. Her research examines how the type and timing of child poverty influence adaptive self-regulation development across levels of behavior, physiology, and the brain. Outside of research, she directs the NextGen Psych Scholars Program ( nextgenpsychscholars.com), which is a virtual peer-to-peer mentorship program for underrepresented students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in psychology.