Welcome
Psychology > psyche (breath, spirit, soul)
At Clark's nationally-known School of Psychology, faculty, graduate students and undergraduates search together for insight into questions that have fascinated people since the beginning of time. Why do we behave the way we do? How did this behavior evolve? What is the relationship between emotion and thought? How can we get along better with each other and live more satisfying lives?
Meet our Faculty, Students, and Alumni
Caring for a suicidal patient led Professor Michael Addis to study and develop
treatment for men with depression.Read the Interview |
Professor Abbie Goldberg talks about her research on gay and lesbian adoptive parenting.Video Interview |
Malini Sakhrani '09 is combining a major in psychology with a minor in management.Video Interview |
Danielle Goldman '09 plans to become a clinical psychologist specializing in the treatment of victims
of sexual abuse.Video Interview |
Magdalen Toole '07 is doing a research fellowship at the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development in Washington, D.C.Video Interview |
Jaime Hickey '07 is attending Northeastern University for a master's degree in school psychology.Read the Interview |
In the Media
The following are media events from winter 2009-2010
Book by Clark Psychologist seeks to help couples strengthen their marriage
WORCESTER, MA— James V. Córdova, associate professor of psychology at Clark
University published his first book,
“The Marriage Checkup: A Scientific Program for Sustaining and Strengthening
Marital Health,” (Jason Aronson 2009). Cordova's book is designed to help
couples assess the strengths and weaknesses of their relationships and to
develop strategies for strengthening their marital health.
Proposition 8 witnesses debate scholarship on families
Keen News Service 1/30/2010
Star witnesses for both sides in the recent Proposition 8 trial agreed on one
thing: Children of same-sex parents benefit from having two parents who are
happily married to each other. … Dr. Abbie Goldberg, Assistant Professor of
Sociology at Clark University, recently published Lesbian and Gay Parents and
Their Children (American Psychological Association: 2009), a book that compiles
decades of research on the subject. Goldberg thinks Thompson was off-base in his
quest for a control group of married, biological parents. …”
Gays, Blackwater, and Aborigines?
Keen News Service 1/9/2010
“What do gay political icon Harvey Milk, anti-gay marriage activist Maggie
Gallagher, controversial military contractor Blackwater, and the Walibiri
aborigines of Central Australia have in common? All are cited in the 3,001
exhibits filed by supporters of California’s same-sex marriage ban, Proposition
8, for inclusion in the trial challenging that law. … Dr. Abbie Goldberg,
assistant professor of psychology at Clark University in Massachusetts and
author of Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children (2009) ...”
Research supports Gay and Lesbian parenting
About.com: Lesbian Life 1/5/2010
“Interview with Lesbian and Gay Parenting Expert - How does being raised by gay
and lesbian parents affect children? There have been a lot of studies on gay and
lesbian parents and for the first time, a new book analyzes those studies and
puts their key findings in one place. Dr Abbie Goldberg is the author of
‘Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle’
published by The American Psychological Association. She is an assistant
professor in the Department of Psychology at Clark University. Her book is an
overview of the many studies that have been done on gay and lesbian families and
she hopes it will be used to influence public policy. …”
Students
reconnect with parents at break
Worcester Telegram and Gazette
A recent article discusses changes that a college
student returning home from break (and parents) might have to adjust to. “It
really does require an adjustment from everybody,” said Jeffrey Jensen Arnett,
research professor of psychology at Clark University and expert on emerging
adulthood. “The child is not a child anymore. They have reached a new stage in
life. They are not an adult, but they are not an adolescent.”
A follow-up on teens and gratitude
Professor Lene Jensen's research is cited in Newsweek's
“NurtureShock” blog on
how it was hard for kids to feel grateful to people when they were still trying
to develop their sense of independence.
What do children understand about God?
Newsweek's "NurtureShock" blog
In a recent study by Clark University professor Lene
Arnett Jensen, conservative Protestant adolescents had some very mixed things to
say about God.
Climategate, Mediagate, and Abusegate
TheRealityCheck.Org
“…Just as a group of brave climatologists refused to be intimidated by the
global warming thugs, the family violence field has its truth-tellers as well:
Murray Straus at the University of New Hampshire, Richard Gelles at the
University of Pennsylvania, Michelle Carney at the University of Georgia, Miriam
Ehrensaft at Columbia University, Donald Dutton at the University of British
Columbia, and Denise Hines at Clark University. All these years, the domestic
violence lobby has been sullying the atmosphere with its gaseous assumptions,
foggy logic, and over-heated rhetoric. When will the media blow the lid off of
this story?”
Tiger’s transgressions
Worcester Sunday Telegram
College Town
Bay Area Reporter (San Francisco)
Assistant Professor of psycholoy Abbie Goldberg writes a Guest opinion feature:
“Issues such as gay adoption, gay parenting, and same-sex marriage are currently
making news headlines like never before. No longer considered "fringe" issues
that affect a small minority of the population, these topics now figure
prominently in routine news coverage, and are, by extension, being hotly
contested and debated in today's society. As lesbians and gay men push for equal
rights with respect to marriage and adoption, judges and legislators
increasingly ask: What does the research say? …”
What’s
Good for the Kids
“These children do just fine,” says Abbie E. Goldberg, an assistant professor in
the department of psychology at Clark University, who concedes there are some
who will continue to believe that gay parents are a danger to their children, in
spite of a growing web of psychological and sociological evidence to the
contrary. Her new book, “Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children,” is an
analysis of more than 100 academic studies, most looking at groups of 30 to 150
subjects, and primarily on lesbian mothers, though of late there is a spike in
research about gay fathers.
Are Same-Sex Couples Better Parents?
Are the parenting styles of these couples and the psychological development of
their children different from families led by heterosexual couples? There is an
increasing body of data about this, too, compiled and analyzed in a new book by
Abbie Goldberg, an assistant professor of psychology at Clark University in
Worcester, Mass. In an essay in the NY Times Lisa Belkin explores that question,
and concludes that in some ways same sex parents have a lot to teach the rest of
us.
USA Today "Gay couples: A close look at this modern family, parenting"
So many gay couples today have kids that it has become a cultural phenomenon –
there's even a new TV show about a modern family that includes a gay couple with
an adopted baby. One in five male couples and one in three lesbian couples were
raising children as of the 2000 Census. That's way up from 1990, when one in 20
male couples and one in five lesbian couples had kids.
But Census numbers are just part of a new comprehensive analysis of research on
gay parenting since the 1970s in new book Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their
Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle, by Abbie Goldberg, an assistant
professor of psychology at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. Click on the
link to read more...
Growing up with gay parents
WGBH Boston “The Takeaway”
“Voters in Maine voted yesterday to revoke gay marriage in the state. Opponents
of gay marriage frequently bring up the hypothetical effects of gay parenting on
kids as a reason to deny gay couples the right to marry. At this point we don't
have to rely on hypotheticals, however: We now have a generation of kids who
have grown up with gay parents and can speak for themselves. One of those kids,
Becca Lazarus, tells us about her life with two gay dads, while New York Times
Motherlode writer Lisa Belkin explains the results of recent research.”
Belkin cited research by Abbie Goldberg, assistant professor of psychology at
Clark. She is the author of “Lesbian and Gay Parents and Their Children:
Research on the Family Life Cycle,” the first book-length review and analysis of
research on parenting by same-sex couples and their families.
The Takeaway is a co-production of PRI (Public Radio International) and WNYC
Radio in collaboration with the BBC World Service, The New York Times and WGBH
Boston.
Adoption and the LGBT Community
blogtalkradio.com Creating a Family
Abbie Goldberg, assistant professor of psychology at Clark is interviewed by
author and adoption expert Dawn Davenport on "Creating a Family: Talk about
Adoption and Infertility."
Gay Parents Better Than Straight?
The Advocate
The Advocate features research presented in the book "Lesbian and Gay Parents
and Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle," by Abbie Goldberg,
assistant professor of psychology at Clark. Goldberg is also featured profiled
in "Abbie Goldberg: A lens on gay and lesbian families," running in the November
20009 issue of Preview Massachusetts magazine. http://www.previewma.com/
Cries for Help Not Always Answered
Sphere AOL News
"A girl is gang raped outside a California high school, and an entire nation
asks one question: How could this happen? People often hear cries for help and
think someone else will call the authorities, or they don't know what to do and
so do nothing -- a phenomenon known as the bystander effect,' explained Denise
Hines, a research assistant professor at Clark University in Massachusetts who
teaches classes on that very subject. "
Professor Michael Addis teams up with NFL Hall of Fame Quarterback to raise
awareness of male depression.
Psychology research professor Michael Addis and Terry Bradshaw recently led a
discussion entitled "Men and Depression: Overcoming the Stigma and Creating
Positive Change."
The Daily Texan - Study shows men inclined to neglect aid for depression
Professor Michael Addis discusses his study on men and depression in the Daily
Texan Online newspaper. " Addis and his team plan to explore depression and
masculinity in individual races to create a more comprehensive study. They
recently received a grant to look at Latino men and depression, a study for
which interviews have just begun.
Clark University introduces new CAVE program, Clark Anti-Violence Education Program. Spearheaded by Psychology professors Kathleen Palm and Denise Hines, this program is supported by grant from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice. For more info link here: CAVE
Domestic Violence: It Can Happen to
Men too
Professor Denise Hines is quoted in the Bangor Daily News in the article,
Domestic Violence: It Can Happen to Men too. The articles discusses studies
are shown that men are victims more often than thought of in the past. “We know
that there are men who are sustaining severe abuse from their female partners,
but because domestic violence is viewed as a women’s issue, these men have a
hard time finding help... By simply providing male victims with the same
assistance, validation, and respect we give to female victims, we would be
preventing much suffering.” Denise Hines, Ph.D. Clark University
Lesbian and gay parents and their children
WHMP Radio (Northampton, MA) 08/19/2009
Abbie Goldberg, assistant professor of psychology was interviewed on The Bill
Dwight Show: "Hooray for Barney Frank! Way to slap down the stupid! Dr. Abbie
Goldberg tries to do the same, in a much more polite, measured way, by taking on
the myth that gay people aren't fit parents."
Too Young for a Midlife Crisis
Washington Post 08/10/2009
Call it a quarter-life crisis, the 20-something version of a midlife crisis, in
which sufferers struggle to establish their sense of identity and purpose. with
the tumultuous economy and job market meltdown of the past year, recent grads
are getting a double helping of quarter-life anxiety. Unlike young adults of
generations past, many of whom were married and settled in their careers by
their mid-20s, today's college grads experience a longer period of transition to
the settled-down stage, said Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, a research professor of
psychology at Clark University in Massachusetts and author of Emerging
Adulthood: The Winding Road From Late Teens Through the Twenties.' "
Generation in flux
Boston Globe 08/08/2009
"Jeffrey Jensen Arnett does a fair amount of public speaking about his concept
of emerging adulthood,' the notion that there is now a new phase of life
somewhere in between adolescence and adulthood, a period of exploration and
experimentation that can last well into the late 20s. " Arnett is a research
professor in the psychology department at Clark University.
conversation with psychologist Abbie Goldberg
Daily Hampshire Gazette 07/22/2009
Clark assistant professor of psychology Abbie Goldberg in interviewed about "Gay
and lesbian parenting what the studies show." She also was interviewed live
(July 15) for the Midweek Politics Radio show, "Lesbian and gay parents and
their children," on WXOJ of Northampton, Mass.
(www.midweekpolitics.com/shows/midweek-politics-with-david-pakman---07-15-2009.html)
A domestic violence victim
The Baltimore Sun 07/16/2009
Clark University research assistant Professor of psychology Denise Hines
comments and her research is cited in an Opinion page piece referencing the
killing of former NFL player Steve McNair. The commentary reports her findings
on custody laws and primary aggressor laws, which "encourage police to discount
who initiated and committed the violence but instead look at other factors that
make them likelier to arrest men." The piece also ran in the Washington Times
(7/14), and was the topic of the Men's News Daily blog post: "Researcher: What
Happens When Abused Men Call Domestic Violence Hotlines and Shelters?" by Glenn
Sacks, for
Fathers & Families (7/13/2009).
Freud in
the New World
American Journal of Psychiatry (American Psychiatric Association) 06/01/2009
"Sigmund Freud visited the United States only once in his lifetime. The trip, up
the eastern seaboard from New York to Boston and then to Niagara Falls, was
organized around an invitation to lecture in Worcester, Mass., at Clark
University, in honor of its 20th anniversary. The conference was held 100 years
ago, in September 1909, and was hosted by Granville Stanley Hall, a pioneer
American educator and psychologist."
Old-fashioned values - Families find dining together solves problems
Worcester Telegram & Gazette 05/27/2009
Clark psychology professor and department chair Wendy Grolnick is quoted in the
article: "It's important for families to take some time to connect to not just
drive their kids places, but to have family time. It doesn't need to be around a
table."
Psychology Professor Michael Addis has been awarded the status of Fellow of the Society of Clinical Psychology.
Psychology Professor James Córdova's Marriage Checkup is mentioned in "Your love life" in Redbook magazine (April 1). Córdova says, "The marriage checkup allows couples to catch marital cavities early on and take care of them." Redbook Mag Article
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